Nowhere
by MusicGirl24
Summary: sequel to Somewhere, must be read first. Edward & Bella are together again & getting ready for the wedding. Charlie is found asleep on the couch & on the news is something that will change their lives forever. now they must run. full summary inside.
1. Chapter 1: News

_**Summary: **_

**_Edward and Bella are finally together again and getting ready for their wedding. all is well until they go to tell Charlie. Charlie has fallen asleep on the couch and on the news is something that will change their lives forever._**

**_now they must run. this time not to find each other, but to escape the danger ahead for them. meanwhile, the city of Forks is finding out about the mysterious news._**

**A/N: And I'm back! for any newcomers, this is a sequel, so you will have to go read the first story entitled somewhere first. or at least the epilogue. that's what this really goes into. **

**on with the sequel!  
**

Nowhere

Chapter 1: news

Bella's POV

When we got home from Las Vegas, Alice threw herself into wedding plans. I only had to do one thing. Tell my friends and family.

I had been back for a week and I still had not talked to Charlie or Renee. I hadn't had contact with any of my friends except Angela since graduation, and I imagine that she was worried about why I hadn't called since I left for Alaska. I knew no one suspected anything; they didn't even know Edward and I were back together. What would they say when they found out that I was engaged to the guy they thought left a year ago?

I flopped back onto Edward's couch in frustration. I had been spending the whole time we had been back thinking about how to tell Charlie and Renee. The door to our room cracked open. Edward popped his head through.

"Bella, are you okay? We were supposed to leave to go see Charlie five minutes ago."

"I'm just worried about his reaction; everybody's reaction really. What will they say? I'm only eighteen! Well, I guess I would be nineteen now if I was still human." I smiled to myself for the fact of the date of my change. I had barely missed my nineteenth birthday. A few days later and I would've been nineteen forever.

"It'll be fine. What's the worst he could say?" Edward tried to reassure me as he came to sit beside me.

I knew he meant it to be a rhetorical question, but so many answers came to mind. Charlie could do so many things.

"He could hate me. I can't deal with that it would crush me. I all ready he'll be mad that I skipped out on college, before we even tell him about the wedding."

He started rubbing soothing circles on my back as he spoke. "I highly doubt Charlie would do anything that bad."

I thought of something then that made a smile appear on my face. "Has Alice seen anything?"

"I don't think so. She's too focused on planning to think of anything else."

"Well let's go ask her!" I jumped up and started running out the door, towards Alice and Jasper's room. Edward caught me around the waist before I could get very far.

"I don't think that's such a good idea. You don't want to end up being held hostage with Alice the rest of the day so you?" Edward asked.

"Fine!" I unwound his arms from around me and took his hand, pulling him downstairs and out the door. We got into the Volvo and Edward was about to turn the key in the ignition when I spoke.

"Shouldn't we take my truck so he doesn't come out yelling at you the minute we drive up?" I said, staring longingly at my old, rusty truck that was now parked beside the Volvo in the garage.

He sighed and got out of the car. I took the keys out of my pocket where I had put them this morning in preparation for this.

He groaned as the truck roared when I started it up. I drove to Charlie's house, finally understanding Edward's frustration with the speed of my truck, now that I had experienced the thrill of running first hand.

We pulled up to the house and knocked on the door. When nobody answered, I was suspicious, but I let myself in with the key from under the eaves.

"Dad?" I called out. There was no response.

I walked into the living room where I heard the TV on with the volume turned down super low. Charlie was asleep on the couch, but I didn't go to wake him, because of what I saw on the TV. Somehow the TV had gotten to the news; there must have been a game earlier on this channel, Charlie never watched the news.

Edward and I stopped in our tracks and just stared as the reporter spoke.

"There has been a sighting of the oddest kind now captured in a picture." Next to the reporter's face popped up a picture that would be the death of me.

**A/N: mwahahaha! cliffhanger! on the first chapter too! remember, this was written when I was still doing a ton of cliffhangers instead of how I'm writing now which is more like cliffies toned down. see you tomorrow for chapter 2! Review!**


	2. Chapter 2: Change of Plans

**A/N: Chapter 2! ok, THANK YOU, to all of you that reviewed, favorited, or subscribed to the story!!!!I felt so great, that now there's a chapter 9! which is not posted yet anywhere so don't look for it. keep it coming! I'm _loving _it!!!**

Chapter 2: Change of Plans

Bella's POV

There, being broadcast on national television was a picture. A picture that could kill me and those that I love.

It was in front of that wedding chapel we had tried to go into. Behind us was a couple, smiling, ready to take a picture after their marriage. In front of them were three people, running, clearly at an impossible speed. Not only that, the three of them had a magnificent sparkle to their skin, like diamonds. The three people were none other than Edward, Alice, and I.

Edward and I gasped in unison. Edward tried to pull me out of the house, but I had to do something first. I couldn't risk Charlie seeing this. He would probably see it later on, but hopefully we would be able to stop it before anything else could be reported about it.

I ran up to the TV to change the channel.

"What are you doing Bella? We have to get out of here!" Edward shouted. I heard Charlie stir behind me; Edward's shouting must have woken him up.

"Now you've done it!" I yelled under my breath. I ran up to him, grabbed his hand, and started to pull him out the door when I heard a voice behind me.

"Bells?"

I stopped in my tracks, forcing Edward to stop with me.

"What is _he _doing here?!" Charlie yelled. I heard him get up from his spot on the couch and start to come closer.

"Well…you see…Dad…" I started, turning towards him just slightly; he was now glaring at Edward. I said the rest very quickly, hoping he wouldn't catch it all. "IskippedcollegetogofindEdwardandnowwe'regettingmarriedbye!"(I skipped college to go find Edward and now we're getting married, bye!) I headed for the door, having to go at human speed.

"WHAT?!?!" Charlie started to headed towards us, but we were all ready half way to the car. He chased after us, yelling the whole way. "ISABELLA SWAN YOU GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!"

I couldn't do this to my father; I stopped. He came up behind me, and I turned around, taking Edward with me. I made sure to keep my head down so that he would not see my red eyes. I wonder how I could've forgotten to put those contacts Alice had bought me on.

"What are you doing?" Edward whispered, too low for human ears.

"I can't leave like this." I whispered back.

Charlie was completely unaware of our conversation as he spoke. "Bella, what were you talking about back there? What do you mean skipped out on college?"

"Well, I couldn't stand it anymore, so I got on a plane and went out to find Edward." Edward took my hand out of his and snaked his arm around my waist, pulling me closer. Charlie stared at his arm and brought his face up to glare at Edward again.

"You." Charlie narrowed his eyes. "Get away from her!"

Edward remained calm, not seeming affected at all by my father's anger. "Charlie, I will not make the same mistake again; I'm here to stay. We're getting married sir." Charlie's eyes widened and his jaw dropped as he took in the news. "Now, if you'll excuse us, we have to go." Edward opened my door for me. He went to the other side as I stepped in.

"No! You can't! Bells, please don't do this! You're only nineteen!" Charlie pleaded.

"It's too late, Dad. I'm sorry." I smiled, trying to cheer him up; even though I knew there was no way that he would ever be happy about this.

Edward started the car and drove away from my old house, away from my father. I waved goodbye to him, as he slowly went out of sight, if I could've cried, I would have. I might never see him again.

I turned back to Edward who was now gripping the steering wheel as tight as he could without breaking it and driving at a dangerous speed down the highway.

"What are we going to do about this?" I asked my angry fiancé. His grip on the steering wheel loosened slightly at the sound of my voice.

"I don't know. The Volturi will be after us _very _soon. We have to leave. How could Alice not have seen this?!"

"You said it yourself before we left," I reminded him. "She's too immersed in wedding plans to see anything else."

We pulled up to the house and ran through the front door and up the stairs to see Alice; this involved her too. She was sitting in the floor, looking through a bridal magazine when we walked in, surrounded by other supplies to prepare for the wedding. We trudged through everything to the middle where the little pixie sat.

"Alice," I started. "We need to leave."

"Oh Bella, what do you think of this?" She held up the magazine to me, making sure Edward couldn't see.

"Alice, we need to leave." I said again.

"What? Why?" Her eyes glazed over as soon as she finished speaking. She was in her trance for a few minutes before she came back to reality. She flew to her feet, and ran out of the room.

Where could she be going?

**A/N: dun, dun, dun! where is Alice going? well......the next chapter is in her POV! Review! see ya tomorrow! **


	3. Chapter 3: A New Addition

**A/N: guess what? This site beat the reads! On TA I have like 3800 reads or something like that, and………..on here I have 3936!!!!!!! But that's for Somewhere, I'm still so happy! Thank you! **

**On this though, we're not doing so great. Then again, the others have 8 chapters, you had 2. only makes sense that there will be about 700 more reads. **

**Let's see, I know there are a LOT of people out there that absolutely LOVE the character we are about to bring in, ENJOY!**

Chapter 3: a new addition

Alice's POV

The visions I had been having about Bella's perfect wedding day abruptly changed as soon as the question of why she was here right now slipped out of my mouth.

_Aro stood up as the rest of the guard came in to the throne room. One was carrying a photo with a strange sparkle to it. _

_"What have you got there?" Aro questioned the member of his guard with the photo. _

_He walked over to Aro and held up the picture in front of his face. Aro gasped at the sight. Marcus and Caius came up behind Aro to see what could possibly be on this photograph. Both gasped as well. Caius reached for the photo, but Aro grabbed it and held it away from him. _

_"Caius, be patient. We must figure out how to deal with this first."_

_"How to deal with this?!" Caius yelled. "This is the worst thing that could happen! This will spread if we do not take care of it immediately!"_

_"And how do you suggest we deal with this?"_

_"Destroy these three of course. And then find some way to stop the media from spreading this any farther, and destroy all information that this ever happened."_

I was still curious as to what could be on this photograph when the vision changed direction, leaving me to see the picture in perfect detail. Though I did not need to breathe, I felt as if I was not capable of using my lungs at the moment.

The picture was of a TV screen that the news was being reported on. On the screen was a reporter and in a little box next to her head was a picture of Edward, Bella, and I. They were running away from me in front of that horrid little wedding chapel, a smiling couple behind us. I was so focused on catching them that I had not noticed that they had led us through the light. Though the sun was only just rising when it was taken, it was enough to make the sparkling come off our skin. To many humans it would seem to be glorious, beautiful, but to me it was the ugliest thing possible.

I didn't have to keep watching the vision to know what would happen next. There was no doubt that they would decide to destroy us, just like Caius had said. I knew we had to leave immediately, Bella had told me that before I had even had my vision, but I had to do something first.

I got to my feet, ran down the stairs and out the back door. I had to find Jasper; I could not leave without saying goodbye. He had gone out hunting a while ago with Emmett, so he should be pretty far away. I pumped my legs harder, forcing myself to go faster than I had ever gone. I did not have time to do this, but there was no way I was leaving without it.

After I had run for many miles, I finally caught his scent. I followed it into a small clearing where Jasper was now draining a large mountain lion; Emmett was no where to be seen. I ran up to my husband and pulled him into a tight hug. He dropped the lion's carcass to the ground and turned round to face me.

"Alice what's wrong?" he asked. "Why are you so scared?"

"The Volturi; they're after us. There's a picture of me, Bella and Edward running in the sunlight." I buried my face in his chest, crying tearless sobs.

Jasper gasped as the words came out of my mouth and his grip tightened on me.

"I'll never let them touch you," he vowed.

"What can we do? We're no match for the Volturi. Edward, Bella and I will have to run."

"I'm coming with you."

"Jasper, no! They'll kill you too for helping us; I don't want that to happen to you."

"I don't want to live anyway if you can't."

I could find no way to argue. I did not want him to come with us, to be killed for being an accomplice. But I had no choice. I knew there was no way Jasper would ever let me go without him, so I simply nodded, accepting his demand.

"We have to go now! They all ready have the picture!" I exclaimed. I grabbed his hand and we took off running towards the house. We jumped over the river and came in the back door. The rest of the family, including Emmett, were all waiting for us.

"We all wish you the best of luck," Carlisle said.

Carlisle, Esme, Emmett, and Rosalie all took turns hugging each of us goodbye and wishing us luck.

I ran up the stairs to Jasper's and my room and packed a small backpack of clothes for each of us within a few seconds. I did the same for Bella and Edward. Luckily, I was able to fit enough clothes inside for a few weeks. I guess we would have to re-wear the same clothes if it got over two weeks. I shuddered at the thought.

I threw my designer pink backpack over my shoulder and ran downstairs. I gave Bella, Edward, and Jasper each a backpack. We waved a final goodbye to our family and headed out the door, unsure of what was to come.

**A/N: Jasper lovers: how you feeling? happy? sad? don't know what to think?**

**for everybody else, be prepared! the next chapter is really not the best, so you'll have to wait 2 days(vs. the 2 weeks the others had to wait) for the real action. I will tell you when those parts of the story are coming up so that you can skip them if you like. these are the chapters back in Forks. but, I like these chapters, because it really develops how the media is going after them. so I will not be taking them out.**

**Review!=]  
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	4. Chapter 4: Annoyance

**A/N: This is a Forks chapter. if you know you won't like it, don't read it. some have said it was boring. well, I know. I wrote this in parts, so the idea for what was going to happen completely slipped my mind once the time came around to write it. but this is already posted on TA, so I'm not changing it.**

Chapter 4: Annoyance

Charlie's POV

I watched my daughter drive away. What had she meant that it was too late? Why would she get married so young? That wasn't the Bella I knew. But, then again, Bella had become completely different after she met _him._ This past year, after he left her, it was like I didn't know her; like I was missing something. I'd never heard of anybody who reacted the way she did when her boyfriend left her. None of it was normal behavior, but that's Bella for you.

I looked around, as if she would just pop out of thin air. I knew I wouldn't see her as much once she went to college, but I had never anticipated marriage; especially not this young. She just got back together with the guy and they were all ready getting married? How can you just forgive someone that easily?

And then there were other changes in her. The extra paleness, the way her features seemed to be enhanced, the way she smelled, the way she spoke, she had never been more beautiful. But one thing did bother me; she would never look straight at me. She was always looking away. Was there something wrong with her eyes?

There was so much to think about, it was hard to stay on my feet. Maybe I should just go inside. I went over to the mailbox while I was outside and then went back into the house, closing the door behind me.

I plopped back down on the couch and flipped through the mail in my hand. It was mostly bills and junk mail until I got to a fancy envelope in the back. I pulled the seal off of it and pulled out the piece of paper inside. It was, too, very fancy. On it was a date, time, phone number, and the Cullens' address along with a little greeting. I understood what it was all too soon. A wedding invitation.

I looked back to the phone number. Maybe I could talk to Bella again if I called it; apologize for my overreaction. I got back up and sauntered over to the kitchen. I dialed the phone and waited for someone to answer. When I was about to hang up because nobody was answering, Alice's voice came through the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hi Alice, is Bella there?"

"Um…no."

"Well, can you give her a message then?" I asked.

"Ok…"

"Tell her I'm sorry," I started. "And if she gets a chance, to call me back."

"I will Charlie. Bye."

"Bye." I pressed the end button and put the phone back in the cradle.

*******

A few weeks passed, and I heard nothing from my daughter. I was starting to worry. The last time she had been gone for an even longer period of time, I thought she had been at college so I wasn't at all worried. This time, I knew she was with a boy I despised, and this fact only deepened my worries.

I was about to turn on the TV to drown out my thoughts when the doorbell rang. I reluctantly got up from my comfortable seat on the couch and went to answer the door. On my doorstep, was none other than Mike Newton.

"Um…Hi-i Chie-ef S-Swan," he stammered. "I-is B-Bella home?" He turned an envelope that looked just like the one I had gotten after she left over and over in his hands.

"No, Bella's not here," I answered. I used to think that Mike Newton would be good for Bella. Now I realized that Bella was right; he was just a friend. Jacob, on the other hand, would be perfect for her. But, she had chosen the one person I despised the most. I still had no idea why she would forgive him so easily; enough to accept a marriage proposal when they just got back together. I thought Renee and I had raised her better than that. I guess the message didn't get across.

"Do you know where she is?" Mike asked.

"No. I don't know anything more than you about that stupid little envelope you've got there." I pointed to the invitation that he was still turning around in his hands.

"Oh…ok. Um, I have to go. Goodbye, uh, sir." Mike continued to have trouble speaking. He turned around and walked towards his car, parked on the curb, as I closed the door behind him.

I sauntered back over to my comfy couch and sat down. I grabbed the remote from between the cushions where it had fallen while I was asleep. I turned on the TV and found it on some old soap opera with everybody speaking Spanish. I raised an eyebrow. _How did it get changed to this? I thought I had it on ESPN. _

I flipped through the channels and finally found what I was looking for. I put the remote onto the arm of the couch and laid back, settling in for a long rest. I needed to clear my mind of the madness that was running through it. I fell into a deep sleep as the announcers started talking and the athletes started playing.

_My beloved daughter walked up to me on the sidewalk with a boy I approved of on her arm; Jacob. _

_ "Hey Dad!" she said happily as they came to a halt in front of me. "How ya been?" _

_ I pulled my eyebrows together in confusion. How long had I been away from her? I guess she did look a little older… I stared down at the sidewalk, trying to make sense of this. _

_ I lifted my head slightly to look at Bella's left hand. There was a sparkling gold ring on it. I smiled. She had married Jacob, just like I had wanted her to. I lifted my head up all the way to look at my son-in-law. My grin quickly morphed into a scowl as I saw the wrong face. _

_ The picture had changed to my worst nightmare. There was Bella, in all of her 19 year old glory, leaning into Edward Cullen, who now had his arm around her waist, with a ring on both of their fingers. _

_ I narrowed my eyes, glaring at that horrible excuse for a person. "Get away from her!" I yelled. He looked confused at my statement. Bella's eyes widened. _

_ "Why? Am I not allowed to touch my own wife _now_?" he asked. I grumbled under my breath. I think he heard me because his arm tightened around Bella. _

_ "I _said, _Get. Away. From. My. Daughter." He backed up, pulling Bella with him, turned around at started walking way too fast, heading toward a silver Volvo that I instantly recognized parked on the curb. I ran after him. I reached out and was just about to grab onto the back of his shirt…_

I awoke to the phone ringing in the kitchen.

_Bella, _I thought instantly. I flew up from my spot on the couch and ran as fast as my older limbs would allow towards the phone. I glanced up at the clock as I picked up the phone. I had only been asleep for a little over half an hour.

"Hello?" I asked eagerly. I hope I didn't seem too desperate to talk to my daughter.

"Hello Chief Swan, this is Mrs. Stanley."

My spirits fell. Of course it wouldn't be Bella. She hadn't called any other time after she left, why would this be any different? Mrs. Stanley continued to speak as I thought.

"I was just wondering if you would know why my daughter was so eager to go over to your house. Is your daughter home for Thanksgiving?"

Oh. That would explain why I just had Mike Newton at my door. The kids were home for Thanksgiving break.

"Bella's not here. I-"the doorbell interrupted me. I groaned; more people. "I'll be right back Mrs. Stanley."

I trudged over to the door and flung it open, only to be faced with yet another teenager.

"Hi Chief Swan, is Bella home? I _really _need to talk to her! Did you get one of these?" Jessica held up the dreaded wedding invitation.

I sighed. "No, Bella is not here. And why are you just getting that now? I got mine a few weeks ago."

She bit her bottom lip, obviously trying to contemplate what I had just said. "Well, I just got home this morning and my mom showed me the invitation. I asked her if she had asked you or Bella about it, but she said that you weren't really talking to anyone right now. I sent Mike over first, just to see if it was true. He said you didn't know anything, but I didn't believe him. So I came to check for myself."

My jaw dropped a little as she explained herself. Mike had been her doing? She had been the reason that this wedding nonsense had been hitting me at full force today. I was a bit angry, but I controlled myself, I was not going to take my anger out on one of Bella's friends.

"I have no idea about this. They came to tell me and left. I have just as much information as you."

Her face fell. "Ok. Goodbye then." She turned around and walked away as I closed the door behind yet another teenager.

I went back to the kitchen to say goodbye to the girl's mother.

"It seems your daughter wanted to bombard me with questions about that wedding invitation of my daughter's that you apparently gave her this morning," I said into the phone.

"Oh. I guess that does make sense. Thanks for clearing that up. Goodbye." She hung up on me, but I didn't care. I had never wanted to talk to her in the first place.

I walked upstairs. The couch had seemed appealing to go back to, but I wanted to be away from the phone and the door, where nobody could get to me. I plopped down on my bed and fell asleep, happy to be rid of all the annoying people out there today.

**A/N: were you bored? did you at least like Charlie's dream? Review!**


	5. Chapter 5: Rule Breakers

**A/N: this is chapter 5 right? ooooooooohh!!!!!! the Volturi chapter! oh, this'll be fun! Enjoy!**

Chapter 5: Rule breakers

Aro's POV

Our guard filed into the room quietly, their eyes now crimson instead of the deep black they were when they left. That must mean that there were some humans in the turret for the rest of us to have. I was incredibly thirsty after all. They had been gone for so long, this time going all the way to the United States of America to gather our food. I stood up from my chair, ready to have my meal when I noticed a picture in one of their hands.

I could've easily seen it from across the room, but I decided I needed a closer look. Who knew what could lie in that simple photograph. If they even bothered to bring it with them it must need closer inspection anyway.

"What have you got there?" I asked.

The young man walked up to me and held up his finding. I gasped at the sight. How dare they endanger our secret like this! Going out in sunlight! They should've known better! The picture was taken in Las Vegas! It's always sunny there!

I noticed one other thing about the photo that intrigued me. They had golden eyes. Not those that could be produced through contacts over any of the colors in the usual spectrum for our eyes. They reminded me of my friend Carlisle's. Did he have more of us following him now? He was a good friend, but I never did understand his reasoning for the way he fed.

Marcus and Caius came up behind me to see what all the fuss was about and gasped as well at what they saw. Caius tried to snatch the photo the photo out of the man's hands but I had all ready grabbed it, and was now holding it away from him.

"Caius, be patient. We must decide how to deal with this first," I said.

It did not take my mind-reading gift to know how he would react. "How to deal with this?!" he yelled. "This is the worst thing that could happen! This will spread if we do not take care of it immediately!"

I knew how he would respond before I even asked, but I proceeded anyway, hoping he may have come up with something different for this particular situation. "And how do you suggest we deal with this?"

"Destroy these three of course. And then find some way to stop the media from spreading this any farther, and destroy all information that this ever happened."

Ah, Caius; always wants to take the easy way out. He never sees the error of his ways. So, of course, I was left to explain them to him.

"Yes, but what way would that be? Kill all of them? Don't you think that would bring unneeded attention to the subject? We will have to find some other way to deal with the humans. On the other hand, I do agree with you about these three. They must be destroyed at once."

I caught a glimpse of Demetri bursting into a smug smile. Of course he would be like that, after so many years he was actually going to use his power for something useful; something challenging.

I turned to Demetri. "You will get your chance. As for now, we do not have anything to track these rule-breakers with. We will have to start at the origin. I assume these were taken in Las Vegas?"

The members of the guard who has just returned nodded their heads. I shuddered internally at the thought of having to go back to that place. The last time had been a few decades ago and had not given me a pleasant first impression. Such a stench for one small city. I don't think I had ever smelled that much alcohol at once. And of course there were all the silly clothes. Not to mention the terrible recreations of some great landmarks. Las Vegas was definitely not a pleasant place to visit.

I sighed and stood up. At least I would get a good meal before the torture.

The rest of the people in the room followed after me as I headed toward the gathering of humans waiting for us.

There was a good selection of them there. I got my fill as the others drank quickly and left to prepare to leave. Marcus and Caius were the only ones remaining. The looks of disgust on their faces showed that I was not the only one who was not happy with where we were headed.

I reached out and touched their hands in order to see if they intended to accompany me on our little trip. I instantly felt the flood of new thoughts enter my head. Marcus's mood seemed to be the worst, which was very surprising considering Caius's anger at the moment. He didn't like Las Vegas anymore than I did. He had a pretty bad situation. He had to see all those couples who didn't even love each other get married, while he was left without his precious Didyme. I felt a small pang of guilt for what I had done to my sister, but it quickly subsided.

We were soon ready to leave. We ran to the airport in Florence, another thing I disliked. Was it impossible for them to make a quieter craft?

After many annoying hours of humans fidgeting, clicking on laptops and telephones, and doing what they thought was whispering, the airplane landed.

We stepped out into the night, opting to run in the back alleys where the drunks wouldn't remember what they saw in the morning, versus taking one of the hotel shuttles.

We ran past many buildings, all which were lighted inside despite the time of night.

"Caius, hand me that photograph." I reached my hand back to grab it as I ran. Caius had finally gotten a hold of it after we left and he hadn't stopped scowling at it the whole way here.

I held it in front of me while we ran, trying to figure out which building we were looking for. Finally, I found that it was a wedding chapel as Demetri called out for us to stop.

We halted right in front of what could only be the wedding chapel from the photograph. Demetri went over and smelled the air, closing his eyes as he did so. Of course I wasn't a good tracker, but I sniffed the air as well. It smelled of alcohol, tobacco, and three vampires who all seemed to smell somewhat familiar. That's when I figured it out. Carlisle. They were his creations. That must mean that if we follow this smell, I will be able to see my dear friend and carry out this business. I was overjoyed. I hadn't seen him in centuries and though his way of life was strange to me, I did count him in the people I actually cared for.

"Let's get out of this city!" I shouted. "Demetri, follow that scent! We're going to see Carlisle!" he took up my right flank as we ran away from the disgusting city.

**A/N: think I got Aro's POV down? I really did have a lot of fun writing it. I should definitely write more of it. next chapter is called.....New Places! in other words, we're back with Edward, Bella, Alice, and now JASPER! that chapter leads to so much....and after that I ended up writing some really short stuff, so watch out for that.**

**Review!  
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	6. Chapter 6: New Places

**A/N: it's chapter 6! we're back with Edward and Bella and Alice and Jasper! dang, that's a lot to write. mind if I abbreviate with EBAJ? can you remember that?**

**so, this has a really undescriptive title. "New Places." well, I name things at the beginning from what my plan is, and at the time it wasn't very clear. this is a chapter I planned before my vacation. then I was away for 2 weeks, and the outline in my notebook didn't make much sense and had a lot of errors. I like it better know.**

**by the way, Bonanza is a real city in Colorado. it is the smallest with 15 people total. really close to the record I've found, but not quite. 5 people over. **

**Enjoy!  
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Chapter 6: New Places

Edward's POV

We were running. I always seemed to be running, from one thing or another. All because of this wonderful girl right next to me. I don't care how many times I'll have to run from something to keep her safe, it's all worth it. Who knew danger would still lurk around her as a vampire?

I felt my mind being pulled into one of Alice's visions, so I pulled on Bella's hand as Alice pulled on Jasper's, to stop their running.

_There they were. All of them. Running, talking, planning. _

_"Let me talk to Carlisle first before we attend to our matter of business," Aro said to Marcus and Caius, as well as the rest of the guard. "I don't want the entire visit to be gruesome."_

_I saw Caius sigh and roll his eyes. _

_Then Demetri, the tracker, stopped in his tracks. He sniffed the air as if he wasn't sure about the particular scent he was following. He turned to the rest of the Volturi and spoke in a leader-like fashion. _

_"The scent has changed. There are two paths going opposite ways. I think it would be a good choice to follow the other path. It is stronger, fresher." The rest nodded and went right on their tracker's heels as he turned and ran in an entirely different direction. Away from Forks. _

"Damn it!" Alice and I said simultaneously. This was not going according to plan. They were supposed to be going to Forks, not towards us.

"What? What's happening now?" Bella asked frantically.

I gritted my teeth before speaking through them while clenched. "They changed directions completely."

I could see the horror in her eyes, desperately looking for a solution to our newest problem. She was constantly eliminating her own ideas as she spoke. "Well couldn't we change directions? No- I guess not. How about- no, I almost got killed using that. I don't know. What do you think we should do?"

"Um….." I really didn't know either. But Alice seemed to have an idea formulating in her head. I wanted to let her voice her idea so I stayed quiet for the time being.

"I say we keep running," she said confidently. "They can't chase us forever, and I'll always have my visions to tell us if they're close."

Bella and I looked at each other in nodded. We knew that Alice would always have the right answer, no matter what. I for one have learned not to stray from it. "Where to?"

"Right now we are almost to the Colorado border, so maybe we should stop there first and get some disguises so the stupid media doesn't recognize us from that picture. At least that's what I see they'll do if we don't get them."

"Ok."

We ran for what seemed like forever in a see of green and brown, trying to stay hidden in trees the entire time and not go anywhere near the light. We didn't want a repeat of the incident.

We came across a few towns, but nothing small enough that we couldn't possibly be recognized.

Then, when I thought there was no chance whatsoever of finding a town small enough, it seemed to pop out of the air. It reminded me a little of Forks. Or what it would be if it weren't in the Northwest.

Alice slipped into a small clothing shop and brought out many items for us to disguise ourselves in. Hats, sunglasses, scarves, jackets, and many more.

We put what we could on and stuffed the rest into our already heavy backpacks. Of course it wasn't a problem for the weight. I just didn't want the fabric to bust from being too overloaded.

We stayed in the shadows as we moved back to where there was cover. I saw a small flash of light out of the corner of my eye. I was really starting to hate light. If it hadn't been for light, we wouldn't be in this mess. Cameras use light, the sun is a source of light, our skin glitters in light. It all really is a pain.

We got back into the shadows and kept running as fast and far as we could go.

Meanwhile, Alice had her phone open and was clicking away at the buttons. What could she be doing? My sister wasn't one to text and no phone number was that long.

I narrowed my eyes on the screen. It looked like an internet page. It had all the latest news on it. Our original story was at the bottom of the list, still popular, but not breaking news.

Alice continued to check once an hour until she came across something. _How did they get this? We were only there for ten minutes, and that town is so small…I should've seen this coming._

She clicked open the news article and read to herself before handing Bella the phone. I read the article along with her after looking at their newest photo of us.

_The mysterious threesome first spotted in Las Vegas have been found again, along with a new little friend, this time in the small town of Bonanza, Colorado. Mister Bryan Barnett was the one who snapped the picture below on his cell phone while on his way to visit his mother who lives in the town. _

_Although the photograph does not show their amazing skin, it is still possible to see that they are indeed the exact ones we first saw in Sin City. _

_We were able to get an interview with Mr. Barnett upon his delivering the picture this afternoon. _

"_At first I wasn't even sure it was them. Their skin wasn't sparkly and they were moving so slowly, nothing like the picture I kept seeing on the news. Then I got a look at the brunette's face and I was sure. I got out my phone and took the picture before they could get away."_

_We continued to ask Mr. Barnett if he knew anything about the strange fourth man, to which he did not. _

_It looks like they are trying to lay low, but we will always bring you the latest reports, here on Yahoo News. _

I saw Bella's jaw drop when she read the part about him seeing _her _face.

"I didn't think that would get us in any trouble!" she exclaimed. "I was just checking to make sure that we were completely in the shadows! Stupid news, why can't they just leave us alone? It's not like we're that great, all we did was get in a picture."

"Bella, love, you may think that way, but they don't. They see us as a great new story to report on when they don't want to report on the other bad things happening in the world. Don't worry, it will go away."

I pulled her to my chest and tried to comfort her. I really couldn't blame her for being upset, she'd never been through anything near as bad as this, at least as a vampire, and neither had I. I'd always been one to follow the rules, except of course with Bella. I'd never even thought of going out into the sunlight in public that would be a suicide mission. I'd been depressed, but never enough to kill myself.

We ran as far as we could, leaving the once nice and now horrid little town of Bonanza behind.

**A/N: with the last line, I mean no offense to anybody that may be in Bonanza or Colorado. **

**ok, Jasper lovers will be happy tomorrow, and then they'll probably wanna hit me. please don't do that. and don't spam.**

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	7. Chapter 7: Capture

**A/N: wow, I'm forgetful. I was online this morning, posting for my other story, and I completely forgot that I needed to update this one! **

**so this is chapter 7, super short. Jasper fans might love me or want to kill me. how about we just stay neutral? that might be better for everyone. **

**Enjoy!v(try not to hate)  
**

Chapter 7: Capture

Jasper's POV

With Alice by my side, I ran quietly through the greenery. I grabbed her hand and squeezed, smiling down at her. She returned the gesture and then turned her focus back to the path ahead.

This was not easy. Alice had come to me while I had been hunting. I was had just started feeding when she had come out. I was still so thirsty, and being near all these humans wasn't helping. But what if I ran into somebody….

"Go hunt then. You're not the one in trouble; there's nothing to worry about," Edward muttered from across our little line, next to Bella.

"Alice? Can you check?" I asked. She nodded and closed her eyes for a moment. I held onto her hand so that she wouldn't veer off course while she wasn't looking.

"Nope. Nothing," she replied. "Go ahead Jazz, we'll be fine." She said we but I could hear the silent meaning behind it. She was trying to assure me that she would be ok.

"I'll come find you in about an hour," I informed them. "Don't go too far away, ok?"

"Ok," they said in unison.

I fishtailed around, heading back west, where I had sworn that I had smelled a nice, big black bear. I sniffed around and then I saw a flash of white and black. It looked like somebody else had already gotten my delicious bear. Who knew there were vegetarians out here?

I poked my head around the corner very quickly, but saw nothing other than the black bear lying on the ground. I pulled my head back into the shelter of trees and tried testing the emotions around the area. Most was primal instinct, but the rest was….triumph? Had the bear caught something? I peeked out again. Nope, there's nothing there.

Well, better go find something else. I know there is something wrong with this scene, and I know it is probably a good idea to stay away from this mysterious bear no matter how strong I am.

I heard the tiniest rustle of the leaves, and I assumed it was just the bear moving along, before there was an arm around my throat along with a hand over my mouth.

"Be quiet," she whispered. I tried to turn my head around to see just who this strange kidnapper was, but she wasn't having it. She tightened her hold on my neck and started pulling me backward.

I thought of screaming, but knew that would be a bad choice. I didn't know a thing about this woman, and the potential for a gift that could destroy me was just too great a risk.

I heard her whispering softly, yet menacingly, in my ear once again. "Now, you will come with me without struggle or I will kill you and everybody you know without a second thought."

Fear overtook me. I knew Alice could see the future; there was no _not _knowing that, but what if there was something she _couldn't _see? The chance was not one I was willing to risk.

Of course, she didn't want to give me time to think. She was already running back out of the forest, pulling me behind her. I was not submerged in the darkness for long before I was thrown in a car with her in front of me, climbing over the center console to get to the driver's seat before slamming the door and starting the car. She kept one hand on my neck as she drove.

I padded my pockets checking for my phone. I found it, dead. Just great. I'm trapped in a car in the middle of nowhere, separated from my wife, with no contact whatsoever.

Eventually she pulled up to a small collection of houses that looked to be abandoned. She pushed me out and tugged my neck to make me go with her to the third one down. The house was old and decrepit, not something I would expect a woman of this demeanor to go to.

She flung open the door and pulled me inside of a dim room filled with none other than the Volturi.

**A/N: I wonder if anyone can figure out who took him? it's something I put together logistically to put that character in. and no, if you look on TA(twilight archives) for future chapters, it is not revealed the name of that character. go ahead and guess if you like. I do reveal things to people who guess correctly at things! and I'll say no if you guess wrong. it's kinda like a hot and cold thing. you know that thing you sometimes do at Easter, when you're really close to where the egg is you're "hot" and when you're far away you're "cold."**

**Chapter 8 will explain this event a little more thoroughly. more Jasper POV too, for Jasper lovers. by the way, are those people mad? please don't be. **

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	8. Chapter 8: Interrogations

**A/N: this is like one of my shortest chapters ever. I couldn't make it longer, there wasn't enough material. I guess I could've added it to the end of the last chapter, but I wanted to have kind of a cliffhanger, even though it was the kind that gives you the big info and then cuts off instead of like a complete mystery. **

**Enjoy the supershort chapter!  
**

Chapter 8: Interrogations

Jasper's POV

"I assume you know about this?" Aro held up a newspaper with another article about our being in Bonanza in it.

I gulped. What is there to say about that? Did he really expect me to give up my wife and family's location so easily? But he was waiting for an answer, and I had nothing to say. He beat me to the point.

"Considering the look on your face, I'll take that as a conformation. Now, onto other business. Who are you and why are you with these criminals?"

I could say that I know them, but then they would probably kill me after making sure they had all the information possible. On the other hand, I could say I don't know them, bit how could I explain the photo in that newspaper?

I settled on the latter for my sake and Alice's. "I don't know them."

"They why were you with them?"

I could feel his smugness. He thought he had me cornered. Well, you're not winning this time Aro.

"I was curious. I'd seen them before, so I followed them."

He seemed taken aback, all of his previous feelings completely washed away. I could see him scrambling around trying to come up with an answer to that. Caius said it for him.

"You'll still have to stay with us, until you can prove your story. You're lucky we haven't killed you for association." He turned to Aro then. "I don't trust his story. No logical being would follow these criminals."

I held back my growl at his words about my family. Criminals! What a hypocrite! If anyone around here were criminals it was them!

"Maybe you're right, Caius. Shall we test his story?" he turned his glare to me and reached for my hand. I slipped away from his grasp. We ended up playing a game of sorts, me trying to avoid any contact whatsoever. It was no use. I accidentally brushed across his finger, his eyes flashed and his glare turned into an arrogant grin.

"You are lying. I do not appreciate that. You should be ashamed. Don't know them do you? Are you oblivious to your wife?" The rest of the room's eyes narrowed at me, some deathly while others seemed to only be angry.

"Master?" the little brunette girl I knew to be Jane spoke out.

"Not right now, Jane. He will be punished later; right now there is business at hand," Aro replied and looked at me. "You have a gift. Emotions. You can feel them. Would you care to join us?"

I shook me head. No way was I joining the Volturi. I didn't want to be a mindless human-bloodsucking monster again. I left that behind with Maria.

"I guess we'll just have to kill you for being an accomplice then. Felix! Jane!"

"No, no no!" I yelled.

"Have you reconsidered?"

"Isn't there any other way?"

"I feel I'm being quite generous. I could've killed you when you walked through the door. This is my only offer."

If I could've cried, I would've. I had to do this, for Alice. I would be no use to her dead, and if there was any way for me to help them this way then I'd do it.

**A/N: now, someone got confused when I posted this elsewhere, on whether Jasper is joining or dying. he is _joining._ I'm really sorry if I wasn't completely clear.**

**tomorrow is the last day of daily updates, unless of course I finish, rather_ start_, chapter 10 tonight. yes, this means you'll have to wait and I can finally stop reminding people that tell me to write more that it's already written. maybe those people don't read my A/N's? I guess I can't really blame them. I do write a lot of notes on the chapters. jeez, if I was an author, I'd probably have like 10 pages of acknowledgments. that's WAY too much.**

**rambling again!**

**Review!=]  
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	9. Chapter 9: Missing

**A/N: so this is kind of a half Cullen, half back in Washington chapter. I sometimes do things like that when the chapter title fits for both situations. an example would be the chapter 5: Gone in Somewhere. **

**so, I wrote up the Angela part more because I needed to put in somebody finding out, and I didn't want to revisit Charlie. I think you can probably understand,**

**On with the Chapter!  
**

Chapter 9: Missing

Alice's POV

I knew there was something wrong a few minutes after he left. There was no future for him. Nothing at all. It just went black.

I stopped and started running back to where I remember he went. Edward and Bella followed obediently.

His trail was simple to follow, he had gone in a straight line back the way we had came. I started to smell the faint scent of blood before we came across a small bend in his path. It went through a few trees and next to a now dead and bleeding black bear. I also smelt another smell mixed in with his. It was brand new, someone different that I've never met. I followed it out to a road where it abruptly ended.

I wonder who took him. I didn't _see _anybody. Something happened in that black spot of my vision, something that took Jasper away. I pulled out my phone and tried to call him, but it only rung, with no one to pick up. I got to his voicemail and left a straightforward message.

"I don't know what happened to you, but I'm going to find you." I thought of adding the detail about not being able to see what happened, but, considering that he might be in danger, I left that out for his safety. I flipped my phone closed, and we waited for something to happen. Anything at all. But there was only the sound of the life around us in the sadness.

*******

Back in Washington….

*******

Angela's POV

I was surfing through the internet when I saw an odd headline: **Mysterious Threesome spotted in Colorado Along With New Person.**

Ok, who was this "mysterious threesome?" The curiosity drove me to click on the link. Up opened two pictures along with a short article. The first had a caption saying it was taken in Las Vegas, the other in Bonanza, Colorado. The oddest part was the people though. Not just that they seemed to be sparkling in the first picture, and running extremely fast, but that they looked _exactly _like Bella, Edward, and Alice along with Jasper in the second picture.

Now this is creepy. How did they get their skin to sparkle? And since when can Bella run that fast? She looked so much prettier; I wonder if Alice had something to do with that.

Hey! Is that a wedding chapel in the Vegas photo? Oh my God! Edward and Bella were trying to elope! No wonder Alice is after them! I never thought Bella would be one to do something like that...what else don't I know about her? I probably don't want to know if she hadn't told me, better leave her alone about this.

But she at least had to be warned about the article! I knew Bella enough to know that she didn't like extra attention, and being in the nationwide news is not the way to stay away from attention.

I flipped onto the TV just to check if this really was being reported extensively. I went to the worldwide news channel.

"Coming up next:" said the reporter, "we speak to an economist about the falling economy, a former American troop is here to tell us about the war, and we'll have more on the mysterious threesome that have been spotted in Las Vegas and now Colorado."

"Damn it!" I rarely said anything near a cuss word, but I couldn't hold in my disappointment. I had to help her, alert her somehow.

I flipped open my little silver cell phone and dialed Bella's newly acquired cell phone number. One ring. Two. Three and four. Nothing. I got her voicemail message and proceeded to wait for the beep. After a few more explanations of what to press for certain things, the unemotional voice of the woman was cut off by the beep.

"Hey Bella, it's Angela. I think you might wanna know about this. The worldwide news is reporting about you, Edward, Alice, and I think Jasper. They've got some crazy thing going that you have sparkly skin. I wonder how they did that. Good luck, I'll do as much as I can back here." I finished right before the second beep sounded. I closed the phone and turned my attention back to the TV where the segment on them was just beginning.

"Today we have the original photographer who took this picture that's causing a worldwide phenomenon with us, Collin Davis." She gestured with her hand towards the young man sitting on the other side of her desk. "So, Collin, can you tell us what was going on when you took this photo?"

"Well, I was taking a picture of my friends, they had just gotten married and I was the witness, and we were trying to get a picture outside the chapel. I took the picture with my phone after seeing a glint of light, which I thought was the flash, and then I came up with that." He pointed to the screen behind him now displaying the picture.

"What was your reaction to this little incident?"

"I was basically just staring at my phone's screen. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It's so unheard of. So I showed it to the friends I had been taking a picture of. After taking a new and better photo, we decided to turn in the other photo to the media."

"Fascinating," the reporter replied. "Have you seen the newest photo?"

"Yes, and I'm still wondering who the fourth guy is, but it is definitely the same people."

"Thank you for the conformation. That was Collin Davis, photographer of the picture sweeping the world. Up next…."

I groaned. It was worse than I thought. Bella had better call me back. She needed to know so much.

**A/N: this is the last daily update. there is no chapter 10 yet. I will try to brainstorm some ideas in English, History, and Science today, but I make no guarantees. I do have 3 other stories after all. wow, what have I gotten myself into? I remember saying I wouldn't work on more than 2 at a time. maybe that's why things are getting done as fast! it makes sense now! **

**Chapter 10 will probably be up in a few days because, most likely, I'm gonna have homework tonight. **

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	10. Chapter 10: On Duty

**A/N: it's chapter 10! that's the most chapters I've ever written for a story! I don't know if it would be over word count for ALL my other 7 stories though. for people that know me as an author, I have another story I'm not posting here because I'm having problems with updating it. I don't want to be in the same once-a-month updates over here too. **

**soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo..............................................GO CHAPTER 10!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
**

Chapter 10: On Duty

Jasper's POV

"Congratulations young one." Aro smiled down at me. "I know you will do well." He turned from me to the other members of the guard. "Jane, Felix, Alec, and Chelsea; go with Jasper to look for the abominations."

They selected people walked toward me and formed into a tight circle around the spot in which I was standing. I could feel a very devious feeling coming from the small brunette girl below me, obviously ready to punish me were I not to follow Aro's simple directions. A feeling of pride was spreading through Chelsea to my right while smug satisfaction was coursing through both Felix and Alec.

The mixed emotions, all very powerful, made me feel small within the circle. I tried radiating a bit of fear and anxiousness over to them, but it did not do much. They all flinched simultaneously, but only for a single moment, their feelings much too strong to be overturned.

"Are you coming?" an annoyed Chelsea asked.

"Oh, um, okay." I tried to cease the worried thoughts running through my mind to become just a small murmur. It worked, although it kept coming back up and I would have to push it right back down. The feeling did not frighten me for I knew why it was present. Who would not be even a little frightened by the idea of hunting down his own wife? Of course, I did not plan on bringing her any harm, but the prospect that the others might made me wish I could just ask Alice what was going to happen. I wasn't used to not knowing what was happening next, always having Alice by my side to inform me.

I followed them out of the front door and into the silent nighttime calm. It felt more like the calm before the treacherous storm. It was to be life changing, to determine my entire future.

By this time, I was wondering why Alice had not seen me taken and come for me yet. Did this mean that there was a good outlook in the future? Or would I do more good to them as a member of the Volturi? Either option seemed plausible. Then again, there were so many other possibilities out there, so many variables that must be set in place in order for a happy future to occur. That possibility was all I could count on at a time like this.

We loaded into a small car, crammed in as if we were sardines. I was definitely not comfortable in the back-middle seat. It is not easy to relax when you have an evil, powerful little girl on one side, and an absolutely huge man of muscle comparable to Emmett on the other.

I noticed a young man I recognized to be Demetri trailing behind on foot. Aro must have sent him as a last minute thought. None of the others seemed to even take notice of him.

When Chelsea stopped the speeding car, we were at the site of my kidnapping. I was rushed out and immediately started running out into what I knew would be a trail of my scent leading to the others. It was heartbreaking to think that I was the one to cause such terrible things, but I had only been trying to hunt.

The thought of hunting brought the heavy burn in my throat to the forefront of my mind. I stopped for only a minute and ran off to grab a passing buck. When I was finished, I turned to see a series of jaw-dropped faces behind me.

"Why are you drinking from that repulsive thing?" Alec questioned me disgustedly.

"I was thirsty," I replied innocently. They continued to stare at me like I had committed some rotten crime. It was extremely discomforting.

"Then why didn't you grab someone while we were going through town?" Alec asked.

"I don't drink from humans. I stopped that habit many years ago."

"Why?" Alec almost yelled.

"I don't like feeling the emotions of a dying human. It is much easier to feed from an animal."

"You are a very _odd_ man."

The rest turned back and followed the path after their beloved tracker with me right on their heels.

I caught a scent of what I knew could only be Alice, as well as a hint of Edward and Bella. The thought that these terrible people might actually find me terrified me greatly. How could I protect them from all of these strong fighters and gifted people? Sure, I could make them feel guilty, but that wouldn't take away their personality traits. Especially those little twins.

Here I was with the enemy, joining forces, being forced to go against the people I love. I should be with them, using my powers to push them away instead of reeling them in. I felt like I was committing the utmost betrayal going through with this.

**A/N: longest ever and still nowhere near the end. and I really do know what the end is, I've already written it, on a plane, coming home from Florida. it's gonna be _good. _**

**sorry for the shorter chapter, seems I can't write long Jasper chapters. it was supposed to be a lot longer, but then I remember something I have to write for Bella that has to do with the next thing happening. so next chap will be BPOV.**

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	11. Chapter 11: Now Or Never

**A/N: IT'S CHAPTER 11!!!!!!!!!!!**

**so, a little side note on this: The flashback is set in Somewhere, during something that completely slipped my mind that I needed to write then. so that would take place in Chapter 5 where it says that Bella and The Amazons talked all night. **

**Enjoy!  
**

Chapter 11: Now Or Never

Bella's POV

I watched Alice race desperately around the trees, looking for Jasper, already knowing she would not find him. I don't know why she was even searching. Shouldn't she be able to just _see_ where he was?

"Alice!" I called, causing her to come to a halt directly in front of me. "What _are _you doing?"

"I need to find Jasper!" She threw her hands up in the air and began her frantic searching yet again. I turned to Edward, searching for an answer. But he too seemed puzzled by this situation. With his eyebrows pulled together and his lips pursed, he watched Alice run about.

"Edward? Do _you _know what's going wrong?"

He looked over to me and shrugged his shoulders. "She's searching for Jasper, but she's not looking for him in her visions. I have no idea why."

"Alice!" I called yet again, trying one last time to get her attention. This time she actually bothered to turn her head and look me in the eye before going back to her mad searching. I continued, hoping she would be listening this time. "He's not here. Maybe we should look somewhere else."

She paused, contemplating the possibility that she might be looking in the wrong area of the gigantic span of land.

"Let's go then!" She ran through the gap between Edward and me, grabbing both our arms and pulling us along behind her. We were forced to run and stop many times. Alice tracked down every inch of the land, ever speck of dirt, every top of every tree, and even going as far as to dig a few holes. Screams and sighs of frustration and disappointment passed her lips more times than needed.

Finally, she dropped to the ground, throwing her pack off her shoulder and onto the wet, grassy ground, and threw her head into her hands. Her heaving and sobs said enough to guess that she had given up. I kneeled down beside her and rubbed her back, whispering soft condolences in her ear. They calmed her, but only slightly. Eventually she got to the point where she could speak clearly, though her voice still held her deep heartbreak in it.

"We'll never find him. He's gone. Somebody must've taken him. But I can't see!" She fell back into her hands and her sobbing continued. I pulled her into my arms tried to calm her again.

She stood up, causing my arms to fall from around her small form.

"I'm fine." She took a deep breath and exhaled. "Let's keep going. I can do this."

We both knew she wasn't really fine, but we needed to get going before the Volturi would be able to catch up with us.

She started running again, slowly for her, but running all the same. I didn't keep track of how far we went, but it wasn't long until Edward pulled on my hand again and I noticed Alice had stopped.

"Jasper!" she yelled. Edward groaned as Alice started up again and pumped her legs as hard as she could. Edward and I had to break our connection at the hand so that we could run fast enough to catch up with her.

I saw Jasper after a few moments, surrounded by five members of what I guessed to be the Volturi's guard. Apparently Alice didn't see the others because she was headed straight to Jasper, who know had his eyes wide open and his arms unconsciously out to receive her.

The sight triggered a memory, a reflex of sorts. It back to me in a matter of milliseconds, causing that reflex to take affect simultaneously.

******

_Flashback_

I sat by the useless campfire deep in the Amazon rainforest, surrounded by people I had only met a few minutes before. Kachiri, Senna, Zafrina and a new male were there. They had introduced him to me as Nahuel, a cross-breed between human and vampire. I had been shocked at the possibility of such a thing. It meant so much. Or at least it would've. If Edward hadn't left me, if we had been able to ever have such a chance as a child. I forced the thought out of my mind. I didn't need that right now. I was going to _find _Edward, not wallow in lost opportunities.

"So what were you saying about my being a 'shield?'" I started up a conversation in the awkward silence surrounding us.

"As I said, I have never met one," Zafrina began. "But I have heard of them, and how they work."

"And how is that?"

Zafrina paused, thinking. "Well, how about we start by having you try to do it. Is there something you care a lot about?"

I gulped. I knew the perfect thing. Or _things _rather. I had made sure to put the pictures and the CD I found into my backpack. The only problem was, I didn't want to bring back those memories. I didn't want to have to bring back that empty feeling, even if it meant I could learn how to use my supposed power.

"Bella?" Zafrina asked. "Is there something? Perhaps in that bag of yours?"

I sucked it up and unzipped my faded red backpack. Since I knew the CD would not be as much as his actual face, or if there was no CD player, I picked up the picture of Edward standing alone, in my kitchen, before the wretched birthday party.

Senna took it beside me. She held it up to my eyelevel.

"Now, I'm going to hold this up and you try to protect it. Without moving from that spot."

I started to concentrate, staring at the picture but having no luck protecting it. This might take a while.

Zafrina put her hands to the top of the photograph and started to pull. My eyes widened as Senna's went blank, while still attempting to rip such a precious memory. I felt something pull on the edges of my mind and surround the picture and Senna.

Her eyes regained consciousness and her hands lightened on the photo.

"I can see," she said.

Zafrina clapped from the other side of the large circle. "Wonderful Bella! You must have a lot of potential to get that big of a shield on your first try."

I snatched my picture back from Senna and carefully placed it back into my pack.

"Protective, aren't we?" Kachiri pointed out. "Who is this young man?"

"Edward Cullen," I whispered, my voice full of pain.

"Isn't that the man you were looking for? Is he your mate?"

"He was, but he left."

Four gasps spread around the circle. I even heard a "How dare he!" from Zafrina and Nahuel.

We continued to talk through the night. Or, _they_ continued to talk. I was too busy trying to scare away that terrible feeling again to notice much.

_End Flashback_

******

I felt the same elusive pull on my mind here. It stretched, surrounding the now embracing Alice and Jasper and Edward as well. He was crouched beside me, ready to attack the oncoming Felix. My mind whirled. How was I supposed to do this? I can't prevent a fight!

The two young red-eyed twins were stuck in the corner with their jaws dropped open while Chelsea and Demetri tried to pry Alice and Jasper apart. They both growled at the intruders to their reunion. Jasper gave Chelsea a whack right in the stomach and sent her flying. Alice did the same to Demetri.

Alec and Jane had noticed that their powers weren't working and were now coming after me, determined to make me lose my concentration. However, they were unsuccessful in hauling me away due to my newborn strength. With a flick of the wrist, the hands they had been trying to haul sent them on their backs.

Edward's battle with Felix was ongoing and Jasper was now joining in, having no one else to fight since Chelsea and Demetri had given up on him, and Alice came to help me with the twins. She anticipated their every move, though confused at times, and blocked it. I did my best; concentrating on protecting Alice and trying to block attacks was no simple feat.

I looked around and noticed that Chelsea and Demetri were no longer there. Uh oh. That could only mean….

"Run!" I yelled. Edward and Jasper got Felix off of them and Alice must have thrown Alec and Jane into the next state. We ran as fast as vampirely possible, never stopping until we reached a spot where there was no more land.

**A/N: Did you like my little thing about 'vampirely' possible, instead of 'humanly' possible? I know I did. **

**so, I don't think I've really mentioned this before here, but I do have a LiveJournal where I post news on updates, previews, and big Twilight news, as well as tons and tons of music. check it out!**

**also, if you would like to see a different kind of story from me, I have put up a poll on my bio where I took a few ideas from my list of things to write and asked you what you would like to read next. Nobody has voted yet, so please go do that if you like.**

**Review!**

**See ya on Chapter 12!  
**


	12. Chapter 12: Time to Learn

**A/N: so I have a chapter early for all of you because....guess what?....I'm sick! That also kind of explains why even after having most of this finished for a few days why I JUST bothered to go type up the rest. I don't know about you, but I'm uncharacteristically tired when I'm sick. So here is chapter 12!**

Chapter 12: Time to Learn

Edward's POV

I watched the intuition flash through Bella's eyes as she watched Alice charge toward Jasper. In those few seconds her whole face changed into a mask of confidence.

For a moment I wasn't able to read the minds of Alice and Jasper which before were full of only pure joy. Then, all of a sudden, they came back. I felt Jane attempting to push the burning into Bella, though she was unsuccessful.

A word flashed through her mind. Shield. Could it be possible? I remembered hearing Carlisle talking about the subject with Eleazar many decades back. At the time I only thought of the word pertaining to one such as Renata, Aro's bodyguard. Now I realized that the word applied to my love as well. It was the entire reason her mind was such a mystery to me.

The prospect that she could project only strengthened our chances of overcoming such a battle. I wondered how she had learned to do that. The few that actually had such a gift had taken mere decades to go a few feet let alone the near fifty she was protruding now.

I crouched down, ready to defend myself from the oncoming boulder-like form. When he collided into me, I was forced back to the ground. I hopped back up and was able to run in a flash around to his back and force him to his knees.

Jasper came up behind me and started to help in my ongoing fight with the now struggling monster beneath me. He pulled him back to his feet and pushed him back the other way so that he would be more immobilized. He wasn't having that.

He jumped back up and punched us both in the chest, putting a foot on top of mine to prevent me from anticipating and preventing his next move. Jasper had gotten up by now. Felix kneed him and was about to use two of his fingers aiming for his eyes with his other hand positioned at the back of his neck when a yell echoed through the space we were in.

"Run!" Bella yelled. We immediately followed her directions, Felix not being able to see it coming, therefore having his brilliant attack thwarted.

Bella led the way as the portion of the guard that had been attacking us fled back the way they had come. I knew they were headed back to inform Aro and would be back very soon. I sped up to come to the spot beside Bella.

"They're going back to Aro. We have to run faster," I whispered in her ear. Alice and Jasper were of course able to hear me. We all ran faster toward no place in particular, just trying to escape the terror that has befallen us.

After several hours of continuous running, we reached the coast. Alice, Jasper and I ran straight into the water while Bella hesitated back in the sand. I ran back to her and grabbed her hand.

"C'mon Bella! We have to go!"

"I've never been that great of a swimmer," she responded.

"Well it's time to learn. I'll help you if you need it."

She gulped and followed reluctantly. We sloshed through the water until we were at the spot were Alice and Jasper were waiting, waist deep in the Atlantic Ocean. Bella was still hesitant, so I threw her onto my back and jetted off into the deep. Alice and Jasper were quick to follow.

One of Alice's many visions overcame me just as we began to swim.

_The group we had been fighting arrived at a tiny broken down house in what appeared to be a deserted slum. They went in through a door that was barely hanging onto its hinges. Inside were the rest of the Volturi gathered in a loose circle._

_Aro looked up expectantly as they entered, though his expression quickly turned to that of a frown when he noticed the lack of vampires entering his hideout. He raised his eyebrow- directed toward the vicinity in which the returning people were hesitating-as if to say "Where are they?"_

_Jane was seething in anger behind her fellow guard members. Aro spotted her and directed her to come forward while the others stayed behind. It was obvious of his curiosity to her emotions at the moment as he slipped his large, white hand into her tiny, childlike one. _

_The burst of information to his mind allowed an expression of shock to come to his alabaster face. He snarled before lifting himself from his seat on a shabby red armchair. He opened his mouth to bark orders at his guard, who were still standing silent in the other parts of the faded yellow house during the exchange between the young-looking brunette and the elderly man. _

_"We must go! They have run off!" He yelled out to everyone before looking to the ashamed group still standing either just inside or directly in the doorway. "Two of you, collect Caius and Marcus from their hunting trip. The other two, make sure the others are out this door by the time they are back." He pointed toward the door that was currently ajar as Demetri and Felix filed out. Aro's orders were fully carried out as Alec and Chelsea went to search the house for any stragglers, though it would have been impossible not to hear their master's direct order in such a small place. _

_There was a bit more yelling as the Volturi gathered together in the center of the stained white carpet. Allowances were made to wait patiently for the other two main members of the family. _

_Caius and Marcus arrived shortly followed closely by Felix and Demetri. Marcus's face was grim while Caius's was looked as if he would go ballistic. _

_The large grouping fled out the door, ready to finally achieve their goal. _

I shuddered at such a vivid vision. If they were truly knew where we were, it would not take long for us to be captured. We really needed to hurry.

**A/N: Don't you just love the visions? I have so much fun writing those...the Volturi are surprisingly fun to write. Maybe it's the group dynamic, or maybe it's something that not as many people write about. I still love it.;] well, I'm going to try to will myself to get better so I can go to school tomorrow. Wish me luck!and make sure to review!=]**

**(see? you know I'm sick when I don't write super long A/N's!)  
**


	13. Chapter 13: Almost There

**A/N: So here we are. I felt like writing some fanfic because I just finished writing a research report on a famous colonial figure: Anne Hutchinson. I always seem to choose the outspoken women, guess I'm just relating to myself.;) Well I guess nobody here has seen that since it only comes out if you mess with me.**

**by the way, I'm only in 8th grade and I have tons of weekend homework. Any highschoolers out there? Please tell me it's not going to get too much worse!**

**another by the way, I'm trying to create a playlist for Nowhere, but the site is not cooperating and doesn't want to supply me with the right songs. See, the thing about me is, I may like some popular artists, but I like the songs of theirs that nobody else cares about more. hence the problem finding them. sigh, I guess I'll have to fight with it a little more and then maybe I'll get the songs I want.**

**so, about the chapter. as I said up there, I felt like writing something. This introduces a new concept that I just came up with, but it's also a partial filler chapter. I wanted to end on a cliffie, so that's why it's so short. **

**Enjoy!  
**

Chapter 13: Almost There

Edward's POV

We traveled for three days through the depths of the freezing ocean. No one was happy that we had had to swim instead of taking the more comforting way of flying in an airplane. At least we had gotten away; even I was surprised at that fact.

The waves carried over us, sometimes lifting us up with them, others completely submerging us. I could see the fear in Bella's eyes as the waves came up and over; she was always worrying about petty human things that could not harm us. It was definitely upsetting to watch, so I tried to hold onto her as much as I could, though that was not always possible swimming in the ocean.

Other than watching Bella's fearful eyes, the long swim was extremely tedious. The ocean was supposed to be a beautiful place, but it wasn't so beautiful when you had to swim in it. The middle of the Atlantic Ocean in late October was not a comfortable one. I would imagine it would have felt better to be swimming in warmth even while it would not change the already frigid temperature of our bodies.

I peered off at the horizon as I swam. It could've been a glorious sunset filled with shades of pink, yellow, orange and red; but instead it was one of cloud cover, very reminiscent of home. I knew from this simple fact that we had been heading North toward Europe, instead of the searing heat that would've been waiting for us had we been heading directly East to Africa. The realization comforted me, allowing me to think more coherently with one less worry engorging my mind.

The salt was brought into my nose as the waves rolled over once again. I don't know how the humans could stand so much of it. It was bad enough in their tiny shakers in the middle of dining room tables, let alone in large masses throughout the Earth's oceans. Maybe it was only humans that had not been exposed to the sea that glorified the substance. Maybe those who sailed frequently hated the smell and taste. Or maybe, they loved it. That could be why they were sailors. They must love the salt. How else would they be able to stand to smell it so often?

The oddity of my thoughts caused me to clear them from my head. Why was I thinking about sailors anyway? What an odd topic…

Everyone had swum in front of me by now. Even Bella was looking over her shoulder at me. I picked up speed and rammed through the water, splashing everything in my path, which unluckily included Alice.

"Edward!" She yelled. _I was already wet enough! Did you have to get me even _wetter_?_

I cursed under my breath. She better not have any plans to get me back.

All of a sudden, I was splashed too. I looked forward to see my fiancé slashing through the water like a speeding bullet.

Ah, a challenge. Apparently I wasn't the only one who saw it because I was behind yet again. I pumped my legs and arms to full capacity. I was neck and neck with Bella now, mostly because she was a newborn, trying my damndest to go faster. It just wasn't working.

_Give it up _Alice thought _she's gonna win anyway._

I grumbled and sped even more. Somehow I came into contact with land, smashing right into Bella.

"I still win." She smirked at me over her shoulder.

"For now." I smirked back, a challenge in my eyes. I grabbed her around the waist and pulled her to me. I was almost to her lips when Alice and Jasper came up behind us.

"Keep moving lovebirds!" Alice shouted. I glared at the back of her head before sneaking a quick peck from Bella and pulling her with me to where the other couple was.

"Wh-"Bella was about to ask.

"Spain," Alice answered before she could get the word out. "Looks like some secluded beach. We'll need to stay hidden and out of the public if we don't want them finding out again."

I saw Alice's face flicker before going blank, as was usual for her.

_Someone who was obviously a vampire, though I did not know them, spoke to us. He told of what he had seen of us on the internet, how we may be becoming a world-wide phenomenon. _

_"They are looking for you," the deep voice said. "They'll find you. There is no chance."_

I tore myself from Alice's mind, not wanting to hear the rest of what the strange man had to say. Was this really the end? Was there no way we could possibly continue to pull through? There had to be! We couldn't run the rest of our lives! There has to be a way to stop them, there just has to. Surely someone's done it before?

"Hello," said the familiar deep voice from what could only be right behind me.

**Can anybody guess what kind of role mr. mystery man might play? anybody at all?**

**don't forget to review!:)  
**


	14. Chapter 14: Allure

**A/N: wow, that took a while. what, has it been like a month? I'm so sorry! I really wish I didn't have to say that on this. there's a reason ALL my stuff isn't posted on ff. **

**did anyone go out and see New Moon?? wasn't it just AWESOME?! what they did at the end was kind of mean for them to do to us, but all the more hype for Eclipse! if you haven't seen the movie, trust me, you're gonna love it;)**

**Enjoy the long-awaited chapter!  
**

Chapter 14: Allure

Edward's POV

I turned to see a large man of a bit darker complexion than myself, obviously of Spanish origin. Long black hair blanketed his face, which was hidden so effectively as to not call as much attention to his bright crimson eyes as it would for most. He was dressed reasonably, not in tatters, but not expensively. It looked as if he was a typical nomad, running around in dirty clothes with bare feet a few specks of dirt on his cheeks and in his hair.

He stared at us knowingly. I felt uneasy under that stare; I didn't need someone loyal to the Volturi to report us. We weren't too far from Italy after all. For all we know, he could be a fairly new addition to their guard, although I hadn't heard a peep about such a subject.

"Who are you?" Bella piped up first, obviously done with her inspection of the stranger. I saw Alice standing beside her with a smirk plain on her face. Wow, that vision hadn't taken very long to happen.

_He's not a threat _she informed me through the medium of thought. _He does have information though. _

I raised my eyebrow, a silent question to my adoptive sister.

_Well listen up if you want an answer! I'm not going to tell you everything!_

"My name is Antonio Castillo," the man kindly answered my fiancée's question. "I've heard of you four, and I believe you are going to end up deeply in trouble."

"We already are," I enlightened him. "That's why we're here; we're running."

"Ah. You should know then that the news is here, too. It's becoming a worldwide phenomenon." He raised his hands to simulate a large headline bursting out. "'Sparkle people: the full story,' is the headline all over Europe."

_They'll never make it. Those Italians are fast. _He thought. I growled sharply at him before finally exploding.

"We _will _make it! Those damn Volturi are not going to be the death of us!" I yelled. "C'mon." I took hold of Bella's hands and pulled her into a sprint. Before long, we were many miles away from the distrustful man that is Antonio.

I came to an abrupt stop the second we hit the French border. We couldn't just run through this country without direction. We would end up right in Italy where, most likely, some portion of the enemy would be waiting. It could be fatal to make a wrong turn.

Alice was way ahead of me. She had already run a great distance farther with Jasper. Bella was a few hundred yards away from me, looking at me in a bewildered state. I ran to her and grabbed her hand to continue after the two other members in our party.

We soon entered Germany in the blackness of the cold winter night. Bella was becoming agitated, as was plain on her face. I looked straight at her, hoping she would have something to tell me. She didn't.

While we ran I thought back to where we had come from, back in Colorado. The power Bella had exhibited—well at least that's what I thought it was—was extraordinary to observe as well as experience.

For a moment, Jasper's mind had been blank to me, soon followed by Alice's. That one moment was enough for me to realize the full force of my fiancé's power; something I thought was not coming even after her mind still being locked from me.

She had a gift; one too amazing for the Volturi to pass up if they were to run into her. From now on, even with that shield, I would have to be on constant watch. Bella was still inexperienced in fighting and I was not going to let that be the death of us all.

I could see a light now, getting larger and larger as we ran faster and faster. It was a streetlamp, one of many, yet the only one lit. What kind of a town only lights one light on the street?

I thought I saw a brief flash of white, just the smallest pinpoint, but there was no sign of such a thing once I looked again. Surely this place was uninhabited; it didn't seem to even have proper living conditions. Shabby houses lined the street, but not a whiff of blood could be smelled.

One of the doors was swung open, revealing a living room that was almost pitch black to me. It could be a trap, but I could hear a silent beckoning coming to me through someone's thoughts which could not simply be ignored.

_Come in, _the voice repeated yet again. I impulsively started walking towards the door, only barely aware of the slight tugging on my fingers. Bella was holding me back, but that did not stop me from reveling in the mystery that the situation presented. That's exactly what it was: a mystery. The idea was what pulled me in. the voice was alluring and an even bigger part of the mystery, pulling me with an unknown force.

"Edward! C'mon! There's nothing here!" Bella exclaimed, pulling on my hand more forcefully.

I sniffed the air to make sure it wasn't crazy; the idea had never seemed impossible to me. Yes, there was indeed another vampire in that house.

"Can't you smell it?" I asked them. "There's someone there."

"But I don't _see _anyone there, Edward. It's not safe. You of all people should know about things like this."

I peeked into Alice's mind briefly. It was completely blank, as if it had all been wiped away by the fear covering her face at the moment. I checked Jasper's too. He was putting his military experience to work; planning what we would do if this was a trap. The person in there couldn't be a trap. It just didn't fit.

I tugged Bella along with me across the bumpy black street. The shabby brown house's darkness now held what I could see as a pair of deep black eyes, staring straight at me.

_Come in, Edward _the voice beckoned, adding my name to the end this time.

The mystery now forming grew with possibilities. On one hand, this could be what I thought it was: a deeply alluring voice that could help us; be a safe haven. On the other, it could be just as the others thought: a trap. Both outcomes were equally possible, but the curiosity was overwhelmed me dragged me right into the darkness inside.

I closed my eyes once inside and became immersed in the unknown. Suddenly, I felt something come over me. I recognized it as Bella's shield. Why would she do that at a time like this? There was no danger, no unseen force lurking in the darkness.

I felt two arms come around my waist and I returned the gesture, digging my nose into her hair and inhaling what I thought to be Bella's smell. The smell that came back was vile and repulsive. It smelled like human blood, mixed with venom. Bella only smelled faintly of such a thing anymore, but she had the excuse of being a newborn. This one obviously was not.

I immediately jumped back, my arms that had been previously intertwined around her struggling to pry hers off of me. Alice was just standing in shock.

Meanwhile, Jasper had jumped in front of both the women and come to my aid. The odd woman's arms were quickly off me and held behind her back while she resisted to no avail. She snarled toward me and in a rapid twist, she was out of Jasper's grasp and dragging me with her out the door.

I tried desperately to escape from her hold, but she was exceptionally strong. The trait would not have been expected from a woman of her average size.

And there Bella, Jasper, and Alice stood, not paying attention to anything in particular, not even _trying _to help me out from the hold of this terrible woman.

"Alice! Jasper! Bella!" I screamed in earnest. "Bella, please! You're strong! Why won't you listen to me?!" her attention was briefly averted from the rotting wood of the floor that she had been staring at, but was almost instantaneously turned back to the same spot.

I was at a loss for what to do. My siblings wouldn't help me. The love of my life wouldn't even help me. Who was this wretched woman and what did she do to them?! Oh, I should've listened to them. What a fool I am. I might never see Bella again. I might be killed, burned right on the ground, in just a moment. I stared at her lovingly, remembering her face for what could be the last time I ever saw her. If I could've cried, there would have been a lake at our feet.

The woman ran out of the town, away from my family, away from my love, away from what was supposed to be my future. My future was undoubtedly going to be drastically different as of now. That is, if I even had one.

**A/N: I said this on TA, and I'll say it here. DO NOT KILL ME. I've been thinking about how to do this all day. and it was either Edward or Alice. it started out with Jasper though. but I thought that would sound bad if they got him twice though. and Edward would be a more powerful character for this role, and I THINK I can still do my grand finale(still a long way off, but it's written) this way. we'll just have to wait and see....**

**Review!**

**Check out my LJ for update news! link's on my profile!  
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**and if you like the kind of stuff I write, there's a poll up on my profile for anything you would like to see next. eventually I'll write all of those. but I need a new fanfic thing. I'm slowly getting into original fic though. check me out over at fp:)**

**see ya later!:D  
**


	15. Chapter 15: Haunted

**A/N: well here we are! it's chapter 15 and I somehow pumped out 3000 words! been waiting a while haven't you? **

**and, surprise surprise! I added a song!!! it's one of my favorites and it so should've been on the NM soundtrack because it's perfect. but I think I actually made it fit a little better here. here's the link to that(since I hate doing profile links): .com/watch?v=zN9hUH7yzp0&feature=player_embedded#**

**enjoy!!!  
**

Chapter 15: Haunted

Bella's POV

I stood there in shock. We were alone, in this tiny old house. One with a rather uncomfortable stench as well. Edward was gone. One minute he was off smelling something with a wide grin on his face, the next he's disappeared into thin air. And I'm turned around for no apparent reason. Maybe my body is trying to tell me something; that he's out there, in the big wide open countryside, right through that door.

The only possible conclusion I could come up with is that he left with the woman. The one the rest of us had seen from across the street, but Edward had been too blinded to notice. Or maybe he did. He could have run off with her. She could be his real true love; while I could just be his cast off that he _thought _he loved. He had always talked about leaving before, how did I know he wasn't just making up all that stuff about loving me for his own entertainment? Even the proposal could be just that.

He probably wouldn't have stayed long in that marriage anyway. A year or two at the most. I knew what he said his reasoning was for leaving me, but he never really told the whole truth. Ever. All the time, I seemed to be figuring out things he had hidden from me, or just outright lied about. How could I ever know when he was telling the truth, or when he was just appearing to be doing so?

All vampires seemed to be good liars. Who was Edward not to fit the normal persona? Then again, why _would _he put so much effort into something he didn't care about? Not even the most kind-hearted person I know would do such a thing. There just wasn't a reason _to _do that. He could love me; everything he said could be true. It was just a matter of proof. But was there really a way to _prove _love?

Then it hit me. He's gone; and he's most likely not coming back this time. It wouldn't matter if he could prove his love or not, he wouldn't have the chance. And there was no opportunity standing right outside that door; only pure emotion that would crumble me into a pile of dust. I would be blown away with the wind, scattered all over the planet; truly broken into a million pieces.

There was nothing, and there never could be. There was no way he would be back. Even if he wanted to, the Volturi would probably catch him first since he didn't have Alice's visions to warn him anymore. And the quest of finding him again probably wouldn't work. The world is a big place and there was a small chance I would find him last time and an even smaller chance this time. My luck just wasn't good enough to be that lucky again.

After the initial shock of my realization wore off, I was pulled straight back into the same depression I had gone through as a human. Only this time, it was intensified by the reoccurrence. I clutched my stomach and reignited the human habit that had been prevalent throughout that year without him. I fell to the hard wooden floor in an attempt to stabilize myself. I would've never thought I'd have to do such a thing once I became immortal, but now it all came flooding back to me in giant wave of sorrow. I wanted to be numb; to have no feeling whatsoever; no way to even comprehend the scene around me. I wanted to disappear into the air just as he seemingly had, and maybe then I could be as unfeeling as I wanted to be so desperately.

The numbness I was hoping for didn't come, though. The only thing that came now was pure pain. It stung every inch of my body from my head to my toes, spreading its fire in a way even my transformation couldn't have. This time, however, I knew that the torture would not and could not cease. All it could do was intensify until all I really was inside was a pile of burned up ashes surrounded by the hollow shell of what used to be considered a person.

All the emotions I had experienced as a human were strengthened even more by the new being I had become. I was sure of the blank look in my eyes; the one that showed that I really didn't have anything going on in my head; the one I knew had been on my face that night in the forest. That face conveyed the things going on in my head perfectly. There was nothing going on in my mind, no numbness. The searing pain was overcoming, but it was familiar enough that all it did was incapacitate me. Of course, even as familiar as it was, it burned at the edges of my mind, turning everything I'd ever known right down to what the rest of my body would soon become while this went on: ashes.

I wish I could've cried. Even if it seemed childish, it felt right. I sobbed as I began to become slightly delirious.

_Damn you fate!_ I said in my head to an imaginary person my mind as conjured up as fate. _I have nothing and you won't even let me cry?! Don't you know what kind of pain heartbreak is? Would you quit throwing me into it? I can't take much more! _

My mind had now formed a face to go with the grim-reaper-esque body I had placed my imagining of fate into. It showed a truly evil person; one who kept giving me happiness and then pulling it out from under me. The man was also one to console me when I was down in a way. I could pretend that he was real, get mad at him, and then that just might be able to take away however small a portion of the pain I was going through right now. Sure, I was delusional, but it surely wasn't a new thing to me. Not only was I accustomed to the oddities of the world, I fit in right along with them.

One oddity was brought to the forefront of my previously blank mind. The hallucinations. The ones of his voice back when I was human. There must be a way to stimulate those again! Sure, nothing was really dangerous to me now, but there just had to be _something. _Anything. If I couldn't be with him there had to be a way to at least _hear _him. But the only thing, or people, that are dangerous to us are the Volturi. Oh my God, could I do that?

I thought back to my faint human memories of the voices. His voice, sometimes in just a faint whisper, other times full-on yelling. It was a glorious experience. The bliss of his voice mixed with the adrenaline rush had been absolutely exhilarating. The memories of the voices got louder and louder in my head as I completely tuned out whatever that noise was in the background.

_Don't you _dare _do that Bella! _His yell echoed through my head in a delightfully satisfying gesture.

I was filled with momentary joy. He was back! I could hear him! But what was I stimulating this time? I couldn't get the same adrenaline rushes anymore, and no danger was present. Could _thinking _about danger stimulate such a thing?

I thought about the Volturi ripping me apart before lighting a match and turning me into a bright orange flame letting off its mysterious purple smoke into all corners of the small room I'd been placed in.

_No! Don't do it! _He yelled even louder this time. I sighed from the absolute joy that I could still hear his voice. I couldn't stay away from the aftershocks of the present emotions for long though.

My breathing was now coming in short gasps, as if I had no air. There was no need for it, but it all of a sudden seemed to be a necessity. Such an inconsequential thing to me since I had been changed was now one of the most important things to me. I needed air to exist, everyone did. If it wasn't there, then how could anyone live? There was no chance of anyone being here, even vampires, if there was no air. They would've never been born as humans. There would be no reason for anything, there would be nothing anyway.

That was the emotional turmoil running through me right now. What the world would be like without air seemed to be what my body was now. Completely vacant, hollow. Who would have known that such petty human emotions could be so much stronger as a vampire? That wasn't what I had signed up for. Then again, my emotions had been pretty remarkable as a human anyway. I had been able to astound Edward with their levels.

The reality of things was slowly coming back to me. How was I going to get by now? There was no way I could live like this. I'd tried before, and failed miserably. It just wasn't possible. How anyone else could have put up with it, I will never be able to figure out. My own personal Hell was not a very happy place at all. It was just exactly what its name called it: Hell.

The future was in no way predictable right now, no matter how Alice would like to think it is. It would never be and could never be for me. At least she had warnings for the misfortunes in her life; I never did.

I was about to think of another thing to possibly cure the returning hurt when Alice's voice snapped me back to reality. I frowned at the loss of opportunity.

"Bella! Stop it!" Alice shouted. "Don't let yourself go into that again!"

I looked up at her frantic face. "Go into what?" I asked, though I knew perfectly well what she was talking about.

"I know that look you have on, and it's not good. You can't just _let _yourself jump to such conclusions!"

Ok, now she really was confusing me. "What conclusions?" I questioned her.

"I may not be a mind-reader but I can sure as Hell see what's going on in that head of yours right now. Don't put yourself back to how you were. Get up and do something about it!"

"What do you want me to do, Alice?"

"Exactly what you did last time!" she exclaimed. "Except this time it will be far easier. I may not be able to see him where he is right this minute, but I know where he'll be! Now c'mon!"

She grasped both of my hands away from my stomach, and threw them around her neck before hoisting my legs up around her hips. This seemed to be the only way I would get anywhere, strapped to someone's back, since there was no way my legs would have been able to move by their own accord.

She took off into the cold, black night. There were no stars out tonight, as was appropriate. Just like the original incident. So many signs, all contributing to my grief. Could it be possible that fate really was my worst enemy?

Time seemed to fly by and we were soon crossing the border back into Spain, a seemingly uneventful place previously. Now it seemed to be life or death. Like I really would crumble into a pile of dust if we didn't find him here. It seemed as if I would anyway. He just outright left, so why is she even bothering to go get him? He left her and Jasper there too; obviously he cares for this woman more than he does the three of us. Either that or he has questionable ulterior motives. Speaking of Jasper, I heard a faint yelling in the back of my mind.

"Bella!" Jasper yelled in exasperation, very uncommon for immortals. "Please stop! I can't take it! You're fine, you shouldn't be depressed, or afraid, or anything like that! You should be angry, but nothing more. I can't take much more of what you're feeling. It's painful."

"See?" Alice piped up. "Even he doesn't need to be a mind-reader to see what's going on with you. You may think it's not obvious, but trust me, it is."

I frowned at the way her facts played out. I didn't want to be easy to read. I wanted to suffer on the inside, not cause the people around me to suffer. They didn't deserve any of this.

Alice stopped at the sight of a rather old yet elegant building. Did all vampires love elegant houses? Didn't anybody want to live _normally? _

Alice pushed me off of her back and onto the ground; spinning around at the same time to steady me from what she knew would be wobbly legs.

"Thanks," I whispered almost inaudibly.

"Anytime," she whispered back. I nodded and took a deep breath before I asked her what I was dying to know.

"Is he in there?"

"Yes," she replied. "But be careful, he's not alone. You'll have to be very discreet. Please _try _to stay safe."

"I will."

I squared my shoulders, once again taking a deep breath. The calming thing didn't seem to be working too well, but the more possibility of a calm state, the better my chances were. I had to go in there and get Edward. There might be a chance, Alice certainly thought so. Then again, when _wasn't _Alice optimistic?

Whatever, I can do this. I can do this. I can do this.

I kept chanting to myself until my feet seemed to feel strong enough to move. I slowly took a step forward, and when everything seemed to have gone alright, I took another. Soon, I was going at a leisurely pace. Why was I always calm when facing danger, and never anywhere else? My feelings sure are messed up…

I cracked open the door just the tiniest amount. He had to be in there. Hopefully I could see him from far away. I peered in with no purchase. Of course, it couldn't possibly be _that _easy.

I pulled the door open just enough for me to silently step my foot in. I had to open it just a little more to get the other one in. I left it open once I was in so that there was no chance of any creaking of it to cause noise and make my presence known.

I walked silently through the stone hall, paying great attention to my every footstep. This was not the time to die because of carelessness. There was a turn just up ahead. Surely I would be able to see something around that corner. Otherwise this place was a lot bigger than I had thought. I'd already spent about ten minutes getting down that hall. I had been being careful and going slow, but it was still an awfully long hall.

I came to the corner and I took just the tiniest peek around the corner, not letting more than just a small fraction of my head out to take in the scene. The tiny amount was enough to see so much.

It was the Volturi. All of them. Every single one, with a new addition. Edward was standing by Aro's side, his eyes blank and staring straight ahead. There was no emotion to his face. Nothing at all. I'd never seen him like that. He'd always been one to show at least a little of how he was feeling, no matter how minimal. He couldn't be like that. So empty, so vacant of life. It just wasn't him. He didn't even seem to be sad that we were not together, as mine emotions were clearly written on my face.

Maybe he was happy; maybe he _liked _being part of their guard. All the maybes in my life were making me anxious. I just couldn't take it anymore.

That expression was frightening to look at. It was as I imagined my face might've looked when I was able to be numb. The one now gracing my features was one that was merely horrified.

I peeked one more time around the corner just to check to see which of my suspicions could be correct, if at all. . What I saw proved my second set of worries. The sides of his lips were turned into a slight smile, barely there, but still a smile.

It couldn't be. How could he be smiling? I'd never known him to be on good terms with the group he was now standing with and now he was _smiling? _What have they done to him? It's not natural, not right. The man I had known to be the love of my life had drastically changed.

I sunk to the floor and curled up into what had been the ever-present ball the last year. I clutched my chest as tight as I could, practically begging in my thoughts to just be put out of my misery. This was not the kind of reassurance I had been looking for when Alice put me through that door.

I would forever be haunted by the horrendous memory. There was no way to erase it from my mind. How could this ever be put right?

_Louder, louder  
The voices in my head  
Whispers taunting  
All the things you said  
Faster the days go by and I'm still  
Stuck in this moment of wanting you here  
Time  
In the blink of an eye  
You held my hand, you held me tight  
Now you're gone  
And I'm still crying  
Shocked, broken  
I'm dying inside_

_Where are you?  
I need you  
Don't leave me here on my own  
Speak to me  
Be near me  
I can't survive unless I know you're with me_

_Shadows linger  
Only to my eye  
I see you, I feel you  
Don't leave my side  
It's not fair  
Just when I found my world  
They took you, they broke you, they tore out your heart_

_I miss you, you hurt me  
You left with a smile  
Mistaken, your sadness  
Was hiding inside  
Now all that's left  
Are the pieces to find  
The mystery you kept  
The soul behind a guise_

_Where are you  
I need you  
Don't leave me here on my own  
Speak to me  
Be near me  
I can't survive unless I know you're with me_

_Why did you go?  
All these questions run through my mind  
I wish I couldn't feel at all  
Let me be numb  
I'm starting to fall_

_Where are you?  
I need you  
Don't leave me here on my own  
Speak to me  
Be near me  
I can't survive unless I know you're with me_

_Where are you?_

_I need you_

_Don't leave me here on my own  
Where are you?  
I can't survive unless I know you're with me  
_

_You were smiling _

_~Haunted by Kelly Clarkson_

**A/N: well? what'd you think? relieved? angry? ready to kill me? give me some feedback! review!**

**also, If you actually like my writing, I have a poll up on my profile. it's about possible fics I could right next, since I'm at a loss for what to start once I finish one of the 4 I'm working on. it's got a few votes, but I would like to have some more before I close it. **

**make sure to check my LJ for previews!**

**oh! I remembered something! if you want to read a completely random and funny story, there's one I recommend for a good laugh;) it's on Twilight Archives though. but it's worth the transition. it's called Edward Cullen vs. Wolfgang Puck by tyler crow sux. it's really awesome, go check it out;) she definitely deserves more reviews for her awesome randomness:D**

**see ya later!  
**


	16. Chapter 16: Do or Die

**A/N: Hi everybody! I just realized that I had sent this in to TA and forgotten to come over here! but, I'm forgetful anyway;) **

**I did not want to make this predictable or cheesy, so if it is, I'm sorry, and I will explain more at the bottom;)**

**Enjoy!:D  
**

Chapter 16: Do or Die

Edward's POV

I flailed around in the woman's arms the entire way, still in shock as we rounded a corner to a very luxurious house in who knows where. I was surprised at the woman's strength. I usually could be considered quite strong, except of course compared to people like Emmett. I knew that there were some exceptionally strong women out there, but they usually showed some of their musculature on their bodies; they were not lanky and thin like the woman before me.

She set me down, not in the least bit gentle, and grabbed my wrist to guide my to the heavy wooden door adorning the large building. I was led down a long and ornate hall that had seemingly no end to it. I resisted as much as I could, but the woman was good at what she did; kidnapping.

She must be the one that had taken Jasper; the reason Alice couldn't see. Though, I still don't have a clue how she couldn't have seen that. Well, she had said she was far from infallible. Maybe she knew something like this would happen.

The woman finally let go of my hand when we came into a well lit, cavernous room. There were three rather large chairs set up at the far end, holding three heartless men. Aro, Caius and Marcus retaliated the deathly stare I gave off. It was one thing to chase us around—something that actually could be considered justifiable—but it was another to separate me from my love in such a vicious manner. The brutality of whatever power the one member of the guard had was enough to tear my heart to pieces; whether or not what I was seeing was really how Bella felt.

I swallowed the venom that had come to swim behind my teeth and straightened myself out. Aro spoke as if this was nothing big, and that made me all the more angry.

"Good evening, Edward!" Aro exclaimed. "It is so nice of you to join us; I hope you will enjoy your place," he grinned at his last remark, "at my side."

My eyes bulged prematurely, having heard his intentions before he had spoken them aloud for the rest of the group present.

It wasn't as if I hadn't expected such a thing. Aro was no fool; he had seen what happened with Jasper. There was no chance that he was going to let me out of his sight. I groaned internally at the thought. Being in the same room with Aro for too long was aggravating; I couldn't imagine spending forever at his side. Especially without Bella.

My usually flawless poker face wavered for a moment as I let out a small sigh of misery. I was seriously thinking about trying to escape, which was definitely not the brightest thing to attempt among people like these.

Before I was able to know what was happening, something quite unusual, Aro had grabbed my hand in his. He grasped it tightly—as if it were his only support of life--while he took in the way my life had played out so far.

I could hear his mind reeling with the onslaught of information. Now that he knew everything about me, it wouldn't be nearly as easy to slip out, since he would probably be able to guess at the tactics I used. He began to speak of what he had seen of the recent events only a mere second after finishing viewing them.

"Ah, you were going to wed this girl, were you? That didn't turn out too well for you, did it? Maybe if you hadn't run from this Alice you wouldn't be here today. However, you should have been paying attention, especially with such a wonderful gift as yours.

"I see your innocence, I really do, but such innocence as this has made you all the guiltier. You see, you ought to have taken the liberty of immediately destroying that photograph, and any others who witnessed such a tragedy. Seeing your alternate way of life, I can understand why you didn't; but in such a case it _is _in fact necessary.

"And, after all this, you and your lovely Bella still have not been wed. That appears to me to be quite odd after all this hardship you are going through after just the attempt. I would think that such a couple would have already taken care of it during your time running from us. You are, after all, quite effective at hiding. Of course, it wasn't enough."

Aro finished his monologue with a line that was like a dagger straight through my chest. And I was reminded of the truth of his words. Why had I not married Bella in this time? I should have taken her off quickly to have it done. I'm sure Alice wouldn't have minded in this situation; it seemed her wedding plans would take much longer to complete now anyway.

"So, Edward," Aro began, "you must take one of two choices. Either you join us here—which does include helping us track down the rest of your party of guilty people—or, we can kill you now. Which do you prefer?"

I saw Jane smile from across the room as I debated the decision internally, obviously waiting for the time when she would be able to put me in the pain necessary to immobilize me and burn me to ashes.

_Finally,_ she thought, _something fun to do around here. _

Aro heard what she thought since he was still holding onto my hand, and instantly flashed his eyes to the youthful girl across the room from him.

"No, Jane," he told her.

I smiled, though only briefly, because of Aro's protection from the little package of pure evil. My smile was almost instantly changed back to its previous scowl as I came back to realize that I still had to make my choice.

A tortured sob broke through the dead silence, instantaneously putting into my protective mode when I recognized who it belonged to.

Aro released his grip from my hand and went dashing around the corner after which he abruptly stopped. I saw her face through his mind as I followed suit and went to stand in front of her to protect my love.

"Well, well, well, look who we have here," Aro said triumphantly. "This will save us some work."

I growled at him as I saw his intentions as well as his plans. He intended to capture Bella as he had me, and then proceed to find Alice where he had a pretty good hunch that she was just outside.

Felix was already there and attempting to pull me away from Bella. Though it was very difficult to resist his strength, I did not budge. I would stay here and protect here, no matter what happened. She is my love, my life, my everything, and I am not letting _anything _take her away from me.

My feet fell out from under me as I felt myself internally burned, as if I was reliving my transformation. My heart ruptured as I was able to see the frightened face of my fiancé in front of me. A look of fortitude spread consumed her after only mere seconds of my internal torture. I was abruptly relieved of my hurting and thrown back into what had been happening the entire time I had been incapacitated.

Bella had broken free of Felix's grasp on her, and broken his hold on me also. The new look of concentration on her face keyed me in to what had happened to the cursed little girl that was Jane. I felt extremely lucky that Bella had such a powerful gift at her disposal.

Out of nowhere, Alice appeared in between us, grabbing both of our hands and beginning to pull us away from Aro and Felix who were now trying to anchor us back. We broke free at a brief moment of weakness on one of their parts and raced out of the fearsome place I had been trapped in.

Jasper followed along with us when we burst out of the door, splitting the wood into two with the force. We disregarded the mess in our mad dash out.

The screams of the angry guard echoed in the gloom passing by us as we also heard the footsteps of a large portion of them following behind us through what should've been a glorious countryside.

We ran with them following us all the way to the airport where we promptly boarded the first plane out, not caring where it was headed. We could go anywhere, as long as it wasn't here.

**A/N: ok, I debated long and hard over whether or not Edward should get out, and, because of the ending I wrote for this back in August that I LOVE, I'm going to stick with this and just tweak the ending a little bit to fit with this, as I knew I would have to anyway. **

**so, NOW, it's your turn to vote! this is the thing I cannot decide: there are two options, shorter story, or longer. with the shorter, there would be about 4 more chapters, and then I would go right into Anywhere, which will be the third and last story in my little series. with the longer option, I send them on my original plan, and it takes a little longer for them to get back to the same ending. it's just a matter of whether you're getting tired of this specific plotline, and want to move onto a new story, or if you wanna stick with this for a few extra chapters(maybe even adding in more of the Forks element I originally planned.) so Review and leave your vote!**

**see ya later!:D  
**


	17. Chapter 17: Liar

**A/N: ok, so this is a Forks chapter. I know, I know, no one really likes Forks chapters, but I do, and they are a part of my original plan for this story, ok? **

**enjoy;)  
**

Chapter 17: Liar

Angela's POV

Thanksgiving was quickly approaching as I began my drive down to Forks in my old and rusted blue sedan. Today was Wednesday, and classes would not resume until Monday, so I was looking forward to spending some time with the family I hadn't seen much lately.

I usually drove down every few weeks, though it was a strain on my car, and my pocket from the amount of gas that was required to complete that journey. The joy present on my mother's face when I arrived was enough to keep me coming, though.

Ben was driving down tonight. He had wanted to come with me, skipping the movie he and his friends had been dying to see for months, but I refused, making him go see the movie.

So, here I am, out on the open road, surrounded by the collection of foliage that covered most every surface that wasn't paved over in Washington. I enjoyed the scenery, despite the fact that I see something similar every day out of my dorm window and out on campus.

It provided a sense of enclosure, a homey feeling. It was different than Seattle, not so crowded but instead providing myself with some much needed alone time. It reminded me more of home, instead of the buzz of the city.

I stopped at three gas stations during my drive to refuel my car, since, being that old, it did not have very good gas mileage.

Finally, I arrived at my home late in the afternoon, exhausted from the long drives and the many stops. I was welcomed with a large smile by my mother at the door before I had even had the chance to get my key out. She pulled me into the living room and sat e on the couch, seeing that I needed a little time to relax.

As I rested on the warm and fluffy cream-colored sofa, my mom began to speak, asking me basically about how college was going, and looking for any information she had not received over the phone. I was able to answer every question honestly until the one I had been dreading came up.

"So how's Bella doin'?" she asked.

I paused, having never been particularly an expert at lying or anything close. I tried to think of a response that she could not try to go into more detail with. I couldn't just say "good," that would be too general an answer, which might also leave her suspicious of why I had nothing more to say about my supposed roommate and best friend. I ended up using a rather generic response, but enough to sound realistic.

"She's good," I replied. "I don't see her too much though what with our having different classes, and always having to study, though."

My mom seemed to be appeased by my answer, but had somehow become pushier with her questions from the time I had last seen her. That wasn't like my mother at all.

"So, is she still moping over that boy from last year? She didn't seem much better the last time I saw her."

"Um," I began, beginning to ponder whether or not Bella would still be moping over Edward. I remembered him coming to my dorm just over a week ago, looking for her. I had attempted to keep my promise to Bella and not tell _anyone _where she went, but I had relented, knowing that she wouldn't care if it were Edward coming to see her. I did, however, hope that Charlie hadn't heard anything from him, or I would die by Bella.

My mother raised an eyebrow at me during my somewhat suspicious silence. I tried my best to get back on track with the conversation and resume telling my not-so-great lie.

"She's gotten a little better," I said simply.

Mom's usually calm persona then changed to one of disbelief and partial anger, though still hiding her emotions quite well.

"Angela? Why would you lie?" She asked.

I couldn't think of anything to say. I wasn't even sure _how_ she could've figured out that I was lying. I'd never lied before, so why would she suspect such a thing now?

I just stared at her, hoping that she would tell me how she knew herself.

"According to this newspaper," she held up a newspaper featuring the same two pictures I had seen online not too long ago, "and Chief Swan himself, Bella came back here with that Cullen boy and ran off, a little over a week ago. Angela, why wouldn't you tell me?"

"I didn't know," I whispered quietly.

"How could you not know? Could you not notice that your roommate hasn't been back?"

"Well," I started, debating whether or not I should just tell her the truth, "Bella never _was _there. So, there was nothing to notice."

"Ok then. Why didn't you tell anyone that she never showed up?"

"She told me not to," I mumbled almost inaudibly.

Mom shook her head and left. After she was already upstairs and in her room, probably to tell Dad, I got up from my place on the couch and picked up my bag, digging around its contents until I found my cell phone.

I quickly dialed Bella's number, already knowing it by heart, and waited for her to pick up, hoping she would actually answer and tell me what was going on.

**A/N: I know you're all waiting for an update including E/B/A/J, and it's coming, I' just trying to decide how this should go. so I'm letting all of you decide! there is a poll up on my profile that you can vote in for a longer Nowhere, or one that will end soon. or, you can just tell me in a review.**

**make sure to review! see ya later!:D  
**


	18. Chapter 18: ShortLived

**A/N: Well, I'm finally back! I'm SO sorry for this long delay, but April just really was a SUPER busy month for me. From going on week long trip with my school over spring break to Washington DC(and a lot of other awesome places on the east coast!) and then to Disneyland with the band the next week, and then dealing with all the stupid homework that I had to make up, and then many teachers assigning projects last week just to review before STAR testing, it was hectic.**

**So since this week we are STAR testing (state testing in the state of California for people who are wondering. I think every state has something like it right?)I have no homework and I've been forcing myself to write every night. Now, for some reason I am becoming a sleepier person(very odd for me) and I don't seem to get as much done as I would like to, but after a few days of hard work, I finished up this chapter.**

**So, I think I'll have to explain my other thing at the bottom because this is getting kinda long....**

**enjoy!:D**

Chapter 18: Short-lived

Bella's POV

My phone rang shrilly as I buckled myself in my seat next to Edward in the plane. I swiftly retrieved it from my pocket, eager to stop the ringing before a flight attendant realized that I hadn't turned my cell phone off yet.

"Bella?"

"Angela?" I said with a small sense of excitement in my voice for my best human friend. It seemed like it had been years since I talked to her, even knowing that the time hadn't amounted to that much.

"Bella," she began, "where are you? Why are you still gone? People are starting to wonder…"

"I'm on a plane, but I'm sorry that I can't tell you where. I'll come home soon. Don't worry."

"But what about all these rumors? Everyone's asking me because _I'm _supposed to be your roommate. And now your dad is saying you came back to town with Edward and then took off. What is going on?"

"I wish I could tell you, Angela, I really do. But I can't tell you how important it is that you keep as much as you can a secret. I did come back with Edward, to Charlie's house, engaged, but I had to leave at the last second. It wasn't before he saw us though. I'm so sorry I can't tell you all of this. Maybe someday I'll be able to."

"Bella, why can't you tell me?" she asked.

"These are matters of life and death, I can't just tell everything. I'm walking a thin line just telling you this."

"What are you talking about life and death? Bella, what have you gotten into?!"

"I'm sorry, Angela," I said, hanging up before the conversation could get out of hand; or a flight attendant could catch me.

I turned off my cell phone and returned it to its place inside my pocket before leaning into Edward's arm, which he quickly shifted to put around me. He pressed a kiss to my lips to try to calm the racking sobs that were rising in my chest. If my body could produce tears, I would be soaking wet.

I didn't want to go through all this turmoil. And, even though you'd think I would've built up a resistance to it by now, I haven't been able to overcome the constant fear rising within me. Fear that I would lose my parents or family-to-be or even Edward. It's taken a toll on my heart, and it's not getting any better.

And, even with the small chance that we may get out of this alive, I knew that more would just keep being thrown at me. It had never really mattered whether I was human or not, Edward had been right from the start: I pulled in danger just like a magnet, a _strong _magnet.

Though I always seemed to think I could, I never really got out of anything. Everything I had gone through, most of it at least, had been fought _for _me. Except in Victoria's case—pure beginner's luck and raw newborn strength—all these things I had just barely gotten out of, had been Edward's doing. He'd saved me from rapists, a bloodthirsty vampire, a car crash, countless falls and who knows what else. No wonder he's so overprotective, look at all that's happened!

I sobbed uncontrollably into Edward's chest, to which he responded by pulling me tighter to him. He began whispering reassurances in my ear, trying to get me to calm down. Alice looked over at me from in front of us in her seat next to Jasper, the sorrow apparent in her eyes too. We all knew how bad this was going to end, and I don't think a single one of us was ready to face what we had thought we were able to.

We landed in Seattle, the place I couldn't tell Angela that we were headed to, early the next morning. After braving the terribly slow line to disembark the aircraft, we entered the terminal into a long hall filled with people either bored or shopping while waiting for their flights. Alice veered to the left suddenly to head to the exit. Edward never removed his arm from around my waist as we promptly followed.

Since we had been in such a rush, we had no baggage, and were able to save time from trying to spot our bags on the long conveyer belt at baggage claim. We passed other people with no such luck, many of whom looked like they were ready to fall asleep on the spot, as we moved towards the automatic exit doors.

Alice paused at the long row of taxis, debating whether or not it would be better to run. Seeing that it was November, a time with no possible chance of sunshine anywhere in the state of Washington, she went for running, suddenly taking off running away from the airport. I feared of possible onlookers' suspicion of her high speed after any type of plane ride as we trailed behind her and Jasper.

She turned into a shaded area located just outside the exit, to which we had reached quite rapidly. She looked around, checking for onlookers, before disappearing into the foliage, leaving the rest of us to follow along. We obeyed her silent command and followed, trusting our future-seeing sister or, in Jasper's case, wife.

She swerved through the trees at top speed, leading the way back to the house, hopefully in a way where we wouldn't get caught. Edward and I could have easily overtaken her but we stayed back and entrusted her with this difficult task.

It had been Alice's idea to come back to Washington. She drew on my idea from almost two years ago, when James had been tracking me. I had suggested for me to go home to Phoenix, the last place he would look, or so we thought. We were all hoping for the correct outcome this time around.

The future had stumped Alice this time though. For some reason, she couldn't _see_ the rest of the family back at the house, instead just darkness. Of course, this had just urged her on in her choice in the matter of returning to Forks. I was sincerely hoping that this wouldn't end up being a case of curiosity killing the cat.

As we neared the house, Edward began to worry.

"Alice," he said, "are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" she responded. "We're going to go see the rest of the family. Don't you want to too?"

"Well, yes, but," he hesitated, "what if the blankness in your visions is something bad. What if we're being led straight into a trap?"

"How could a vision being blank mean a trap?" she asked. "To me, it means the _absence _of a trap, hence there being nothing."

"Alice…" Edward trailed off.

"Stop worrying Edward. Haven't you done enough that in your life yet?"

Edward glowered but let it go, allowing Alice to lead us into the three mile drive leading up to the big white house on the river. At this point, he and I overtook Alice and Jasper, becoming impatient having to go so much slower than our usual pace this whole trip.

Finally, we rounded a corner and headed towards the large porch adorning the side of the house. But we never even got to the stairs. Someone grabbed me from behind and I screamed before they clapped their hand over my mouth, being careful to stay away from my teeth.

"Edward!" I screamed, even though it was muffled by the pale hand covering my lips.

He immediately turned around and raced towards me and the man trying to kidnap me just as Alice and Jasper came into the small clearing in front of the house. Jasper grabbed Alice and held onto her tightly as they rushed to my rescue.

Their attempt was short-lived though. Upon coming into close range with me they were grabbed too. Alice managed to yell out before they could stop her.

"Damn vision! Why isn't it working?!"

A tall, lean figure concealed in a flowing black robe stepped out of the shrubbery just as the rest of the family burst out onto the porch after hearing the screaming.

"Well, not so easy is it? Such easy targets aren't you?"

It had all gone down in mere seconds, but I could tell that the repercussions would last much longer just from the simple words out of the leader's mouth.

**A/N:ok, so the other thing to explain: I LOST my old notebook!!! I don't know if I ever explained this before, but the entire ending to Nowhere is written in that notebook from last August. I am going to make an epic clean up around my room and search for it, but if I don't find it, be forwarned that the ending might end up terrible. I was in the perfect place to write that ending at the time, and so the eyewitness writing in there I think is pretty good. I will be very uncomfortable rewriting out the ending if I don't have that...**

**well, anyway,Review!:D**


	19. Chapter 19: Helpless

**A/N: Well I am back! Other than being extremely busy(for example:awards night, tons of eighth grade end of year stuff, end of year concert, barbecue, you know, lots of end of school year stuff) I do have a reason for not posting for so long. I usually submit the chapter for each story to Twilightarchives and here one right after the other. But, I submitted that chapter a month ago, and it still has not been validated. Well, I don't think you all should have to wait until that is ready there to get the end of the story. So, this is the second to last chapter, enjoy:D**

Chapter 19: Helpless

Bella's POV

So here I stand, captured and helpless, in the presence of my enemies. I couldn't even comprehend at the moment how Carlisle had ever been able to reside with such menaces. I am sure that there are many different other ways this issue could have been handled; for all the public knew, we were wearing body glitter.

But, nevertheless, Aro still stood before me, a righteous smirk present on his face. I attempted to steal a quick glance behind me to the porch, to see if the rest of the Cullens had emerged, but my captor quickly caught my head and held it fixed to stare into the eyes of his master.

"My, Carlisle, you do have one fine addition to your coven," Aro removed his eyes from mine and turned them upwards to stare directly behind me.

"Why do you find it necessary, Aro, to capture half my family without valid reasoning?" Carlisle responded, his irritation evident in his voice.

"You must know by now my friend that I do not capture people without an immediate threat," Aro replied to his once friend confidently.

"And may I ask, what possible threat do these four present?"

"Are you truly that out of touch with the human world these days?" Aro openly insulted my soon-to-be father-in-law. "I would have assumed you would have more in-depth information considering your lifestyle and occupation. Alice, Isabella, and Edward have all violated our most important rule, exposing themselves as immortals openly to the public."

I was so enraged at this point that I decided to make my presence known. "What human would think of glittering skin as a vampire? They all think we sleep in coffins with fangs!" I spoke as quickly and as loudly as I could before the guard's hand clamped down on my mouth.

"Oh but you are wrong, Isabella. Was it not you yourself that unraveled our secret when you were a mere human? I do not take chances on matters such as this. If there is one curious person in the world, there is sure to be more with access to the same resources you had to you."

I swear I saw Edward's eyes drop to the ground guiltily. How did Aro know anything about that? No one other than the Cullens knew anything about how I had found out about vampires. Had Edward actually _told_ Aro? I instantly felt betrayed at the thought.

"You may let her speak, Felix."

The guard removed his hand from my mouth, only to return it to lock around me just above his left.

"Then why not just destroy the resources?" I asked. "If there are none, then there is no possibility."

"Oh, I have every intention of doing just that, young one. But there are matters to attend to here first. I cannot just leave this crime unpunished."

"Aro," Carlisle spoke up. "May I ask why my dear son, Jasper, has been captured? What crime has he committed?"

"He has associated himself with these three," he answered calmly.

"But you admit that he has done nothing against you?"

"He has helped the criminals to escape many a time," the Volturi leader retorted.

"Aro, are you telling me that you would not follow and help your mate if she were in any sort of trouble?"

"It is irrelevant. She is a criminal; he knew what he was getting himself into when he followed her with the other two."

"Then maybe you do not truly love your mate the way Jasper loves Alice; enough to follow her to the ends of the Earth."

Aro glared at Carlisle. I will admit that that had been quite a low blow, but it wasn't like it wasn't well deserved.

"Fine then!" he yelled in frustration. "Release him!"

The guard proceeded to release Jasper, but not without a few sour looks aimed at Carlisle. I was beginning to become very annoyed with this Felix holding me here. He could at least let me look anywhere other than directly at Aro, who wasn't even speaking to me at the moment.

"Now, for the rest of you, how do you explain yourselves," Aro inquired, "since you are so insistent that you are innocent."

Edward was the first to speak. "We were merely running from my sister here—who was not happy about my fiancé and I wanting to be wed in a Las Vegas chapel. It was dark when it began and the sun had just risen when we ran right in front of the chapel, the only way to escape. We weren't even in direct sunlight. The glow is light enough that we could have been wearing body glitter like Bella suggested. After all, it is Vegas. Please understand that there are a number of ways that this could be explained to the public as a hoax. I highly doubt any human would relate luminous skin to a vampire anyway."

"Well put, Edward," Aro began, "But I am afraid that this is not simply a matter of how to explain this to the public. After all you have still exposed yourselves to the world, whether it is publicized or not, it is against our law. Punishment is due."

Since I was forced to look at the menacing creature before me anyway, I glared at him with the most intensity that I could muster up. Unfortunately, no one seemed to notice.

"What kind of punishment were you planning for such a minor offense?" Carlisle asked.

"This is no minor offense, I assure you of that Carlisle. My plans are quite simple as is the usual for these situations. They either must be destroyed or, since I do not like to waste such extraordinary gifts, they may join our guard."

I heard Emmett and Jasper growl from deep in their throats to my right. Obviously they were not happy about these options, Jasper especially. The only thing I could really think of at this moment was my sorrow for Alice and Jasper. With either option they would be without each other, whether irrevocably or halfway across the world from the other. I for once felt lucky that I would either be able to be with Edward as a member of the Volturi guard, no matter how horrendous that sounded, or be with him in death. And though he may not believe it, I certainly do believe that there is a heaven awaiting us, and that we have the souls to go there.

"May I consult the three privately for just a moment, Aro? I ensure you that I am not going to have them attempt to run."

Aro sighed. This was obviously taking longer than he had expected. "Very well, but please do remember that we can still hear you."

"Thank you," Carlisle replied respectfully.

Alice, Edward and I were released then. Jasper immediately grabbed onto Alice as did she him. Edward followed their example and wrapped his arm around my waist as we proceeded into the house.

"What have you done? Do you know what this means? Now we are all at stake since Aro knows of how Bella learned of us," Carlisle whispered as softly as he could.

"I think we should join," I announced. "It's better than dying, and we may just be able to see each other again instead of being permanently removed. It's the only possible way."

"She's right," Edward stated. "To accept death would be to give up on everything we have built in this new life. I will join with Bella."

"I guess I really have no choice, as Bella pointed out," Alice said sorrowfully. "I can't just die and leave Jazz here. And I am _not _going to let him kill himself after me. I can't even imagine him doing that to himself." Jasper tightened his grip on her as she laid her head down on his shoulder.

"Then I guess it is settled. _Please, _do not ruin any of your chances while you are there. You may get lucky and find Aro to be merciful at times," said Carlisle.

We all stood there for a moment, holding onto our loved one, never wanting to let go and face what was out there for us. But eventually we did have to step out and face our fate.

"Welcome back," the Volturi leader said with a bit of sarcasm in his voice. "Have you made a decision?"

"We have chosen to join the guard," Edward proclaimed, his voice filled with regret.

"Excellent!"

We all stole a quick glance back at our family, longing to go running to them and never leave, but we were being prodded to run behind the leaders ahead of us. We followed reluctantly, and with that, our fate was sealed.

**A/N: So the next chap just needs to be typed out of my notebook, since it's been written since August. You will understand why when I explain it when I post it. **

**Don't forget to review!;)**


	20. Epilogue: Invisible Chains

**A/N: I seriously thought that I had updated this later than I actually did. I guess July has just flown by...well, it's August now, and guess what, this chapter is OLD. I wrote this coming up on a year ago in a few weeks. On a plane. Going cross-country to Florida. And once you'll read it, you'll see why;) I'm really sorry for the length, I'm just not a long chapter person. enjoy the end:)**

Epilogue: Invisible Chains

Bella's POV

The airplane's wheels skidded along the runway before finally taking off into the early morning sky. I peered through the window of the man sitting in front of me since our window had had to be closed for obvious reasons. Considering why I was here, I was surprised that my captors had not found a way to make every person in the entire plane shut the windows.

I looked out this lone window in a silent farewell to my real home, but my farewell was short-lived because as soon we were above the thick cloudbank that covers just about the entire state of Washington. I was surrounded by a sea of white, a few mountains peeking through at points, as the roar of the engines screamed deafeningly in my ears.

The time seemed to drag on endlessly as we flew. After a while, that sea of white, fluffy clouds turned into a beautiful patchwork quilt of the many shades of green and brown, speckled with different tints of red and a lovely, clear light blue. Rooftops adorned the edges of the pretty countryside, sided by long, one land roads leading out to what I assumed would be a city.

The clouds had disappeared and reappeared many times by the time we touched down in New York City. I wished that I would've been able to jump out of the stuffy plane and just lie down on one of them and take a nice long nap. And then, just maybe, I would've been able to believe that this is all a dream.

I had never been to the city, but this would not be the day to explore such a curious place. With its diverse culture, who knows what I could have discovered within its confines. Sure, I would've loved to run from this wretched cage and out into the open, free at last, if I didn't know that I wouldn't even make it out of my seat before one of them caught me.

My wrists felt heavy, though there was nothing on them. I was a prisoner, chained eternally to these evil beings, expected to work for them without complaint. Thos chains would be unbreakable. Even with the honor most seem to receive from becoming one of the guard, I felt none, only hatred towards my new "masters" as they would like me to put it. I was not at all happy about that.

I lifted my head up to look at the open plane door, new people now filing in to fill the number of empty seats. I saw my "body guards" eye me out of the corners of their eyes as I watched the proceeding of people stowing away their luggage and sitting into the confined seats of the aircraft.

The captain repeated his safety speech once again as the flight attendants demonstrated at the front. Since I had no chance of dying in this plane except in the chance of an explosion, in which no one here would benefit from the safety instructions, I chose to ignore them. I sighed and looked to the window yet again as the plane sped off the runway and up into the air once again.

I felt Edward's hand rubbing my shoulder, trying to calm me. It helped a little, but nothing could completely deny me that caged feeling running through my frozen veins right now. The only thin I would think of worse than our predicament would be for Edward to leave me all over again. I did not worry about that though, because sitting right next to my fiancé and soon to be sister-in-law was one who could kill me at a moment's notice. The deep scowl on his face only confirmed the thought.

The scene outside the window had now become a light, calming blue. It could've been multiple violent and thrashing tsunamis and it wouldn't have mattered to me, for now I was staring into my love's scorching golden eyes. I could do this; I could do anything, as long as he was right by my side.

**A/N: Ok, cheesy, I can see that, but I did have to fluff it up since it used to only be around 350 words and now it's like double. Obviously, even though this is the epilogue, this is DEFINITELY not the end of my little series here. There is one more story I have planned for this, as well as a possible outtake, and somewhere alternate ending...yeah, I seriously have a lot to do. I actually do not know when I will begin writing the last story in the trio, Anywhere(yeah, I have a theme with the names), since it is still in basic idea stage and needs some major ending/middle brainstorming. And, I actually have 4 other stories, so, gotta work on those...I hope I'll be able to post again soon:D**


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